Poké Wars: The Remembrance
by Agent of Chaos 112
Summary: Unlike most people, I do not recall that which preceded this apocalypse. That day so long ago, separated by time and lives and living, is beyond my grasp. I cannot call the day that I do not recall, that I cannot identify, the day my world ended. There is only here and now-and perhaps when I close my eyes and rest my head, I can hope for a future where I can open them again.
1. Chapter 1: Sole Survivor

**Well, lets start with introductions. I'm the Agent of Chaos, suppose you can call me Agent for short, if any of you feel like reviewing. I currently am the less than proud author of one Fire Emblem Fic (on Hiatus until this story is complete) and a rather dull comedy based oneshot. I've been working on this chapter for a while now, I wrote it about a month or two ago, after getting permission from Cornova to write a story in his universe that had been bugging me for the last few weeks. I'm going to try to keep Author's Notes to a minimum, so lets drop a disclaimer here for the rest of the book.**

 **I _ _, do not own the Pokémon universe or the Pokewars universe, these are owned by Gamefreak and Cornova respectively. The only rights I hold are to the specific events/characters that are exclusive to this story, and the plot of this story in itself.**

* * *

Most people's stories extend before the ultimate beginning to any hardship, often times they will recall and retell the prelude to our damnation. In most people's minds, the beginning of our damnation happened on the day that our damnation became plausible; when our companions lost control, when they surged with unforeseen power, when they injured themselves in a desperate bid to control the massive energy they now had at their disposal. To many this is the day they lost their first friend, either to their own rampage, or that of another. A friend I had met after the fact had extensive knowledge of ancient lore; long before anything that history books knew of. He said that this was not a new change, that it was actually the Pokemon moving back to their powerful and primordial existence. So we had a name for it.

This was the priming.

Unlike most people, I do not recall that which preceded this apocalypse. That day so long ago, separated by time and lives and living, is beyond my grasp. I cannot call the day that I do not recall, that I cannot identify, the day my world ended.

I am not the person that I was before that day, nor is anyone else. At some point in the time-line some bored deity decided to throw peace to the wind to see what would happen. What happened was when this time-line shifted, the people we were wound up being swept out of their shoes and shoved into a distant, peaceful past while we got crammed into these shoes walking along the flaming fields of hell.

But I digress.

The day when the world truly ended for me-when the person who wears this skin, breathes with these lungs and walks in these boots was born, has another name entirely, also courtesy of my well-informed friend.

The Shattering.

This was the day in which millennium of societies' advancements and adjustments were thrown down the big, divine toilet. I was in Goldenrod city when I happened, the attacks anyways. My well-informed companion said the fact that I can say those words today without lying is a miracle in itself. Johto was hit hard, and according to him Goldenrod first and hardest of all. I had wondered exactly why Goldenrod, and when he caught onto my train of thought I almost wished I never questioned it at all.

He came up with a good theory, whats worse is that he came up with the only possible theory. It was frightening that he could so easily put himself in our butcher's shoes, and how analytically he could break down every second of thousands of deaths as though he had planned it himself, that wasn't what scared me most though. What scared me was how clear and sensible, how intelligent the plan was. If this was just a bunch of Pokemon getting blood thirsty and going out to kill humans, or even every Pokemon getting blood thirsty and going out to kill humans, our chances would be better. Our enemies have the strength of beasts, the numbers of legions, the direction of a tactician, and most terrifyingly of all, the mind of a soldier.

Again, I digress from my own story.

* * *

AUGUST 17TH

My first thoughts in this world went along the lines of "cold", "damp", as I slowly shifted my weight on the wet and unforgiving concrete beneath me and the leather I wore gripped my skin and rubbed against my body in response. My senses were haywire, the sticky substance matting my hair to the back of my head was all to noticeable, my skin pinched together in goosebumps and I could feel each and every hair on my body raised on its own will, and a grip on my wrist seems all to strong and foreboding.

I have heard that the instant after someone is born, they are purple, the reluctance to breathe is born into their tiny bodies up until the instant they take that first, wonderful gasp of fresh air. In that moment of necessary concession, where my senses no longer assaulted me and I allowed myself that short, wonderful lungful of air.

I choked. The air was pungent, smelling of faint ozone and blood and of meat far too long charred. Blood, that's what is sticking to the back of my head, but who's? I wondered to myself in a measured sense of concern.

Imagine a child's great excitement and fear when their eyes first open and they see the vast world in which they inhabit, their mother and father and light and life. Imagining their predicament, their fear is easy to excuse. I opened my eyes to a sky of retracted but ever-present storm clouds. If only the dim and foreboding sky was the only thing that my new and clean eyes saw. Alas they were not.

I would have screamed, would have jerked my hand away and screamed a shrill scream and ran away, but terror had me freeze on the spot, I could only stare into the cloudy, lifeless eyes of the young girl that held my wrist. As the adrenaline and initial shock (but not the horror) subsided I shifted slightly to take in my surroundings. The girl had dark black hair, and appeared to be several years my junior, death left burns on her legs and arms, but left the girl's face unmarred by its violence. This girl would never reach my age.

She was one of the less grotesque forms lying about the street. Charred cadavers lay face down in puddles of both clear and crimson fluid. Others were less burnt but no less grotesque, as pieces of red flesh clung to walls of buildings and arms and legs scattered about the street, and others still were intact save for a gooey mess of gray-pink bony tissue sprouting from their necks, their need for eyes and ears diminished as quickly as their life was snuffed.

The intense gore and carnage in front of me was contrasted by what lay behind me, what truly struck fear and sorrow into the recesses of my soul. They stood still on both feet, raised but no less departed. Their nerves were fried by the bolt that had stolen so much else, they were long since dead, but their limbs would not catch on until time wore them away to bones. Their final moment was frozen, and they held what had once been what I could only assume were cellphones. They would not say farewell to the ones they loved, for their arms were outstretched to take pictures, their death was spent in awe, not fear. The horrible travesty of their killer would be etched into their poses until they were nothing. With this even the piles of ash that lay on the ground and scattered in the wind seemed comforting.

To the person I once was this would have been a haunting place, but the moment I opened my eyes that person had fled, perhaps never to return, and for the person who now had my dark hair, the sticky blood on the back of my head, the leather he wore, this was his first memory, this was life.

My blood froze as one of the stiffened bodies toppled suddenly, their timeless stance undone by gravity working in tandem with another force, a force low to the ground and unseen.

I was not alone in this mass grave so recently made.

I caught only fleeting glimpses at first, short red legs skittered behind me, and their owners stood over and around the body they had toppled. They were Corphish, six in all and they had lowered their heads to check on what I assumed to be their master. My heart gave a twinge at their fidelity and concern, but my body pinned my back to the ground, not so trusting.

Two Corphish had been drawn into a dispute, both with blood running down their fronts. They drew away from the body and gave me a view that would haunt my nightmares for many nights to come.

Blood dripped down their faces, flesh hanging from their mouth as I fought the urge to retch. Only then did I notice the ringing in my ears had subsided, and that a grotesque tearing and slurping took its place. It was evident the Corphish's intent as the body shook as they shook with their jaws; tearing meat loose.

Even more noise drew my attention to the fighting duo, and one struck a first attack, raising one claw above its head and bringing it down onto the opponent, who quickly raised his guard and blocked the blow with both claws. The remaining four Corphish cheered and jeered at the violence, and I could see the lust for blood gushing forth from their eyes.

The defensive Corphish blocked the first attack, but the offending brawler was relentless, continuously beating his claws against the other's guard. The defending Corphish grunted at first and held, but with each blow its resolute defense wavered more and more. Finally, sensing that victory was close at hand, the offending Corphish rose his claw, bringing it down with a glowing smash. The Corphish jeered and I again fought the urge to retch as blood and brain tissue flew from its head, the shell having given way and cracked under the force of the blow.

Then it struck me then, the direness of my predicament. And my body went rigid despite my beating and flying heart Pokémon lacked the ability to do true damage, at least not to so grave a degree as I had just witnessed. But then the evidence was right before my eyes. And Pokémon eating people? Corphish could eat and digest almost anything, but I had never considered the possibility that they would eat people!

My heart died down as the Corphish returned to their gory feast, and sped again as the Corphish; the very one that had just killed before my eyes, set its sights on me. I clenched and remained still, praying that with every tap of its legs on the concrete it would change direction, and ignore me.

It seemed my prayers went unanswered as it continued onwards, stopping just short of me and rather settled for the girl who had been holding my wrist. My wish was granted, but I was not content.

As the Corphish prepared itself for its personal meal a fire in me combusted into fruition, feeding my rage. How dare they attempt to consume this innocent girl! Were they the ones responsible for this horror! As it drew closer to its meal I became all to aware of the contents of my other hand.

The scavenger froze, a steel blade jutting from the roof of its mouth, having arrived there courtesy of the small knife I held. In that moment right after I killed it, I realized the severity of my mistake. If it were to die and fall over, it would alert the others, whom would surely attempt to kill me.

I sat still for what felt like an hour, perhaps two. To my relief as I retracted my finger length blade from its body the small scavenger stood secure. I thanked whatever deity it had been that had orchestrated crustacean physiology, it joints having frozen from a harden in the instant I acted. My relief quickly gave way to the need to plan, the necessity of action, I could not play dead forever.

My eyes scanned the streets for a plausible escape, and found none. I looked again, hoping to be wrong only to be disappointed. I tried yet a third time and rejoiced the fruits of my labor. A manhole cover lay in place in an alleyway not twenty feet to my right. If I could make it into the sewers using my knife as a lever to force the cover off, I may have a chance.

Then there was the elephant in the room to address.

I tugged on my arm, feeling the strength of the young girls death grip. I tugged again to make sure she would not come loose. Her pale and dead fingers held strong, refusing to part from my wrist, and a part of me was glad that I would save at least one person's body from defilement.

I began the difficult journey to the alley way and stopped just short of the sewers, checking behind me to make sure it was safe. Satisfied I was indeed alone, I wedged my weapon under the manhole, attempting to force it up. I failed, and again I failed, and again.

I checked behind me to make sure that I was still safe, and sighed in defeat. What good was a manhole if you could not remove it?

I had all but given up, and I hit the metal disk in anger. And to my immense joy, the cover budged, a large hand guiding it from it place of rest from beneath, before quickly pulling me back into the darkness.

* * *

The hidden utopia beneath the streets were exactly what you would expect the sewers to be like, water dripped in slowly in light of the recent rain through storm drains. Thankfully we were not in the waterways, rather there was a concrete walkway stretching alongside them. As you would anticipate, there was little light; small beams of light shone through the storm drains and the only immediate source of light was from a small lighter my savior held.

My savior, a man wearing the denim uniform of a city construction worker, appeared to be in his thirties, or perhaps his late twenties. He had dirty blond hair (an uncommon color in Johto, so it would seem) and he allowed it to grow a fair length, his bangs stopping right above his eyebrows. He was about my height and girth, though it was difficult to tell in the dim lighting. A large wrench rested at his feet, and he seemed ready reach for it at a moments notice.

After he was satisfied that the manhole cover was secured, he quickly turned to me and became an interrogator. "What the hell is going on up there?" he asked, his voice frantic and so clueless it led me to question how long he had been in the sewers.

My hairs stood on end from the images that flowed through my head, and I had to forcefully repress the memories before I could hope to utter a meaningful word. "I don't know" I said slowly, restraining my voice "Something killed everyone up there. The Pokemon have gone ballistic and their attacks seem so... real lightning shocks, and I saw a Corphish use crab hammer to kill another Corphish, they're eating the bodies up there. Beyond that, I am clueless".

The man swore audibly before his gaze rested on the girl I was carrying "How did you two survive?" and he cringed as I winced from his question.

"How did I survive" I corrected, finally using my free hand to pull the young girls eyelids closed. "She is... no longer with us". The worker knelt beside where I rested beside her on the ground and placed a hand on her pulse, despite all the evidence against the attempt, and withdrew his fingers hesitantly.

"How many dead" he muttered the question like a curse. I answered the ominous question "I don't know. A lot. It was worse the closer you were to the radio tower, there were ashes and body pa-"

"ENOUGH!" he yelled in distress, and I could not truly blame him, the images of the carnage was fresh in my mind, and it was best if I were not to let it infect others. The man turned his attention back to the girl, studying the burns on her arms and investigating her hair. Finally he stated "The burns and the death you told me are consistent with electric shock. It must have been one heck of a shock in order to disintegrate people on the spot." he nearly sobbed a single, choking sob "The bolt likely hit a car, causing an explosion leaving that much gore flung around." satisfied with his autopsy, the man collapsed onto the ground, sitting on the hard concrete.

I meanwhile, was lost in thought. "I woke up right next to this girl, why is it I survived"

The man looked at me curiously before tapping my leather coat. "That jacket looks like its made out of specially treated leather. Leather is a good insulator of heat, which would help you not get burned like she did" he gestured to the girl still holding my wrist "Also some companies make polymers of rubber, leather, and plastic either because it is cheaper or to increase its lifespan". With that resolved the older man slid a thin metal rod under the girls finger and pried them away from my wrist.

I flexed my fingers experimentally, this being the first time my wrist was free since I woke up. The man rose to his feet and offered me a hand to help me up as he introduced himself "My name is Lawrence, I'm a handyman in Goldenrod, at least I would be if there's anyone left here."

I accepted his hand graciously and rose to my feet "You're going to be really busy if we survive this ordeal." I snickered at my own joke "I'm-" I rose a hand to my temple when no thoughts came forward to finish the sentence.

Try as I might I could not answer that seemingly simple question that kept repeating in my head Who am I, the thought ricocheted and bounced around in my skull, but would not be answered. As my discomfort grew, so did the number of questions how did I get here, how old am I, what do I look like, who is this girl?

"Kid, Kid!" Lawrence shook my shoulder trying to get my attention and calmed when he saw I was once again aware "What happened there, you just grabbed your temple and groaned all of a sudden".

Again I shook my worries from my head and managed to stutter "I-I don't know."

"You don't know what happened?"

"No, my name"

The man looked at me in concern "You're name?" I nodded "Turn around" and I complied. Lawrence whistled "That looks bad. Looks like you hit your head when you got hit by the lightning." he said "I'd guess amnesia. So what are we going to call you?"

I shook my head "Now we have more important things to do. What do you know about what happened, and whats our plan?

Lawrence shrugged and looked at his watch "about... six hours ago there was a big commotion up there, I was stuck down here. I wandered through the sewers trying to find a manhole, none of them would open. It died down a bit, and I made my way back to the city entrance, but my flashlight died and I got a bit lost. I actually found you on luck, I was opening manhole to catch my bearings."

"Do you have any Pokémon that could use flash? Or something else to light the way?"

He only looked at me oddly for a moment and then put his hand over his forehead "Right, amnesia. Everyone's Pokémon went ballistic yesterday. They lost control and began attacking wildly, trying to avoid hitting anyone important. I hear it was bad, a lot of people and Pokémon were injured." He brought a Pokéballs from his belt upwards. "I was lucky, none of mine were injured, but they've all been out of it for a while now." He returned the Pokéballs to his belt "You?"

I searched my belt as he did, but found nothing. I checked my pockets as well, before having an epiphany and opening my jacket to find six Pokéballs strapped to the inside of the coat "Looks like I have some Pokémon, but lets leave them be for now" I closed my jacket. "Plan?"

"There's a booth near the city entrance to the sewers. It should have some supplies, batteries, some food, some other tools we could use. After that we should try to use the sewers to get out of the city."

"The sewers head out of the city?" I asked.

"You could say that. They lead to a water treatment plant a mile or two out. Most people don't like the idea of a big facility like that near them, so we built it a ways out from the city."

"But first the city sewer access?"

"First the city sewer access." He turned towards the girls body "What are you gonna do with her?"

And inner turmoil ensued again. Technically I had no reason to bring her, now that my wrist was freed from her grasp. In fact the sensible thing to do would be to leave her there to rot, where she would hinder us no more. At the same time there was that angel on my shoulder telling me to take her and give her a proper (or at least as proper as I could manage) burial. Then the angel on my shoulder said something that I had not thought yet. What if I knew her before this? The thought whizzed around in my head, and after a brief glance back at her, my good conscious had all but won.

Lawrence gave no argument as I picked her up and hoisted her over my shoulder. As I was ready to go he asked me one question "Sorry for sending you back to that scene, but you said that you saw the radio tower? Where was it in relation to where we are now?" I mentally sifted through all the images of the bodies, and did the best I could to pinpoint the position of the radio tower. He nodded and said "Good, it should be at most half an hour away." And we set out.

We moved in a pregnant silence, neither saw the need nor desire to talk about what transpired, and we could not belittle it by speaking of anything else. I'd like to believe we made good time, and I was amazed by the ability Lawrence displayed as he navigated through the sewers. If not for his impeccable sense of direction, I'd have wondered within the sewers forever. As we rounded another corner I paused, catching an anomaly in the dark. I froze "Lawrence, take a look at this" He stopped and made his way over to me and looked at the target of my interest.

An entire section of the wall on the right route had been reduced to rubble, and viscous slashes ran along the wall a fair distance past the devastated wall. Power lines running across the wall were cut and damaged into a mangled mess. "What do you make of this" I asked Lawrence, planning to defer to his experience.

He shook his head "That's what I was sent down here to fix. Usually there's power and lights running down the tunnel, but for some reason a bunch of the power lines stopped working. Now I know why."

I looked down the tunnel and recalled the direction it led to. "This tunnel goes near the ocean, doesn't it? Is it possible that a Pokémon swum up into the sewers, and has been going on a rampage down here?"

"Normally there is a steel grate between the sewers down that way, but with what's been going on recently it's possible." He responded, caution growing thicker in the air with every word. He shook his head side to side wildly "Regardless, we need to get to that room soon." And we walked on.

This part of our walk was longer and dripping with anticipation. We were silent not for lack of reason to speak, but the necessity of stealth and morbid fear. Every footfall echoed through the tunnels like avalanches.

After what seemed like an eternity, we came upon a large, steel door along one of the walls, and Lawrence handed me the lighter so he could use the key.

The room was small and depressing. Concrete walls shot up from the floor at the end of the room, several lockers lie along one wall, a desk in one corner, a small fridge in another, and a small closet lie in the wall. Opposite of the door we entered, a dingy and uninviting elevator was built into the wall. I placed down the girl and pushed a button experimentally, only to find the power in this room was absent.

Lawrence was at the desk, opening a drawer and sifting through the contents before his hands emerged from the mess holding several batteries, which he deftly placed into the flashlight at his waist. And switching on a small, battery powered lantern so the concrete walls seemed less dark and desolate.

"Search the room and place anything useful on the center of the floor." Lawrence directed "Leave the fridge, we'll get dinner from there. I'll handle the lockers."

I began searching every corner and container of the room, coming forth with over a dozen batteries of varying sizes, six cans of food had come from the closet, along with several tool belts and a couple pairs of sturdy denim jeans, a few heavy duty flashlights, a toolbox, a basic first aid kit, and a canteen of water.

As soon as I set the last thing down I watched Lawrence mess with the combination lock, before deciding that crushing the locks with a small clamp was a better choice. The locks were cheap, and gave way after he tightened the jaws several times and he opened the first locker.

A backpack hung suspended on a hook, with another canteen not unlike the one that I found, a small multi-tool, another small lighter and a pack of cigarettes (that I pretended not to notice him pocket), another toolbox, and a pair of two way radios. The second locker was empty, but the third one contained several canteens, a can of soda, a large backpack, and a small unusual piece of metal.

Lawrence bent over and picked it up, revealing it to be a small pistol, first making sure that the safety was on, then removing the magazine and checking the chamber-empty. He placed the pistol in a small loop I assumed a tool was supposed to go, using it as a holster. Next he lifted one of the canteens and sniffed its contents before placing it in a side pouch on the backpack. "Whiskey" he explained "I think we can use it to clean water, but we'd need a filter first." He eyed the first aid kit, and procured a bit of gauze, which he proceeded to shape into something remotely resembling a sock "Now we can purify water easily." He looked at the accumulated pile of items "add anything you have on you that may be useful" and proceeds to do the same.

At the end of the endeavor I had smaller backpack, and he has the larger one. I was outfitted with a small tool-belt- in which was a hammer, my switchblade, the lighter we found, a flahlight, a screwdriver, and a small pin that I had on my person (I imagine it looked suspicious, but Lawrence only joked about "kids and their funny past times") and a canteen filled with warm water. In my backpack there was a second bottle of water, all our food, and a pair of jeans (just in case) He was given custody of the first aid kit, the gun, a large wrench, a screwdriver not unlike mine, the alcohol (he claimed on the grounds I may get curious, being to young to drink I'd likely give it a try and waste it), his cigarettes (which he swore he would not use unless we reached safety), his lighter, the filter, the can of soda (saving it for a special occasion), his previous tools, and the empty gun.

"I suppose that all that's left is to crack open that fridge and get some shut-eye" Lawrence said, I caught a glimpse of his watch, and realized that we were into the early hours of the night.

Still, caution took priority "Are we certain that this room is safe" I asked him.

He nodded reassuringly "We are underground, and these walls are thick and made of concrete. The door is thick and steel, with reinforced hinges and locks. We'll be safe for the night."

The refrigerator surrendered several sandwiches of various contents, most of which he allowed me to eat. He commandeered several soda cans and put them in his backpack, along with a couple bottles of beer and some cans (why in the fridge, who knows?).

We ate the sandwiches in silence, I could not remember my last meal and it sounded as though my companion had been wondering this urban labyrinth all day. If I or Lawrence had realized that we were eating a dead man's lunch, we found it inconsequential. After this he allowed us to both split a can of soda, in celebration of surviving the first day.

Before we turned off the lantern to hit the hay I asked a question that had been scratching at the corners of my mind "Lawrence, where will we go once we get out of the city? We don't know whether this was just in Goldenrod, or all of Johto, or the whole world. Where will we be safe?"

I could see him cringe at such a terrifying prospect, but he recovered quickly "Don't worry Kid, the rest of Johto can't be THIS bad" he joked, before laying down a map on the ground "The way I see it, once we get out we can head along the coast-"

"No" I interrupted him, "nothing good can come from going along the coast"

Lawrence shrugged "Someplace with a league presence I guess. Preferably a place with a gym leader"

"So does Goldenrod doesn't have a gym leader?" I asked, and he looked away sheepishly.

"It does, or rather it did. Her name was Whitney, and she was one of the stronger ones. But I heard that she often leaves the city to see nearby family, so either she wasn't here or she was very unlucky."

"Then what makes you think that these towns will be any different?"

"You said you didn't want to travel along the coast, were there water Pokémon out there?"

I nodded "Corphish, and those are only the ones I saw."

Lawrence nodded slowly "All three places are landlocked. No Corphish will be knocking on their doors. And who knows? Maybe this has only happened in Goldenrod and is an isolated incident." I sorely doubted it, but then again, I was different, than he was, His first memories were in a home, my own were among corpses.

"Anyways lets take this one step at a time, get out of the city, then we can decide where to go next, alright Kid?" he continued. I nodded, and he checked the lock one more time to make sure it was secure, before proceeding to reach for the lamp one more time, and this time it went off without protest, leaving both of us in the darkness.

* * *

 **Thanks to Cornova for letting me write this, constructive criticism is very much appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Labyrinth

**I apologize for this taking so long to get out, it took far longer than it should have. I had already completed it when I posted the first chapter, but was discontent and rewrote it, and then rewrote it again. Though it was a long time in the coming, I am fairly happy with how this turned out. Enjoy.**

* * *

I did not know how fortunate I truly was for a time, nor exactly how perilous a world awaited me above ground. That is not to say the underground was as safe as I had anticipated, as I would soon learn, but it easily beat and army of brutal water Pokemon, swarms of feral bugs, and an angry, giant, fuzzy cat with more gigavolts at its disposal than I have hairs on my head.

In related news, Lawrence. He was crafty, practical, and he could keep a level head in a fight, but he wasn't a survivor. He could fight for his life- and always keep it, but he had difficulty coping with the rigorous stress that came from surviving in a lawless world.

He managed however, managed with what I could only describe as borderline delusional hope. He hoped that every step would take him to a spot of earth that had not been cultivated with the priming and watered in blood, hope that every morning he woke the violence would cease, hope that we may yet find a place where bloodlust did not rule before goodness-fool's hope. Every step found its way to shed blood, every morning was a fight for survival, and every night he'd only hope: maybe tomorrow would be different.

As to where his history is concerned, fate would see him as a recent arrival from another region: Sinnoh. Only those who could fight survived the shattering, and as a seasoned gym trainer hailing from Sunnyshore City for most of his youth- fighting was second nature. In his adulthood he proved to be particularly adept in mechanical and civil engineering, experience in what could be called one of the most complex (and impractical) buildings in Sinnoh was an ally in his endeavors to fulfill a career. He eventually moved to Johto (In within what I can only speculate as a year or two prior to the priming) as to follow the workforce demands: as many cities within this region were undergoing renovation; including but not limited to a new Contest Hall within Goldenrod City. Though construction was not his forte, he conferred with a group of developers to help construct the daunting building, which he worked on for the better part of the year in which he resided here.

He never really mentioned his relationships in Goldenrod much; I speculate such conversations would bring about memories to grim for him to bear. He has given ample reason for me to believe that he was actually within the contest hall with his colleagues for its grand opening when the initial priming began, but he always avoided elaborating on the night of the priming. Besides: such speculation discredits his testimony as to how he arrived in the sewers.

When confronted about his friends and family in Sinnoh however, his views were stunningly optimistic. Even as the situation looked more and more dire he would always say "Hey, at least it can't get any worse". He must have truly taken those words to heart, even as the days grew dimmer and dimmer, as time and time again he was proven wrong.

To myself, he was something of a father figure. For all his delusional hope he was wise, for all his flippant behavior he was serious, and for all his childish acting he still remained steadfast and mature. Perhaps his delusions gave him the strength he needed to face the world- for at this point I believe I have seen too much of it to believe that this epidemic has not touched every corner of it, but I fear that once we have confirmation, such blissful ignorance will be shattered. Even now, we sometimes hear him sob in his sleep. He has been wounded in one of the most barbaric and intimate ways the world can to a man, and whatever protection his denial gives him will be soon stripped away. We can only hope to help him when the time comes.

Speaking of such emotional trauma, my day would start on a dreary note and quickly take a turn for the worst, but I would live, I found purpose in this new unforgiving world, and most importantly I learned to become thankful for such impossible luxuries.

* * *

 **AUGUST 18** **th**

My first memories came back to haunt me that night, the scenes were painted within my mind in a vivid, deadly dream. The memory of corpses would hound me for a time, and while it was a dream- the mind can sometimes make dreams so lucid they seem more probable than reality.

My body was spayed back over the wet concrete yet again. My hairs stood on end as they did before, and the young girl's death grip was as present as ever; her hand right above a bracelet on my wrist. The bodies were still cast over the concrete like broken toy soldiers, but they were under a crimson and intimidating sky, and the buildings that rose around us were worn and haggard. This was a memory so I should have been able to predict what was coming. But this was a nightmare, in which all hells were possible. I steeled myself, wary of what was to come.

As before, a body toppled and red, pointed legs scampered across the asphalt along the corner of my eye. Then the dream deviated as the bearer of those legs came into view; tall, armored, massive, terrifying variations of their lesser cousins. The stars on their forehead gleamed a violent and mortifying gold, and their dark eyes all turned towards me. ' _Craudaunt.'_

They abandoned the other corpses- my mind's vicious wish for terror winning out over stoic reality, and moved slowly, almost unbearably so, to where I lay on my back. I attempted to move, to roll away from the terrifying entities that had taken the past and inserted themselves into it, but my limbs were dead at my sides, unmoving. I was just like the dead behind me, my body intact, but stagnant, never to move again.

The Craudaunt began their bloody work on the girl next to me, ripping and tearing her apart with their massive claws and feeding through mouths unseen. They began with her limbs, and slowly worked their way inwards, and I, a prisoner in my own body could not even look away from the madness.

The girl was not as receptive to the situation. Her dead eyes sparked suddenly alive and wrought with fear, and she screamed and begged and prayed for help, and I heard and took in all of her hopes and wishes, but was powerless to grant her the intervention that anyone but I could easily afford her.

If the Craudaunt were bothered by the prospect of live meat, they didn't show it, and they continued their work. It was a small mercy that she did not suffer alone for long, a single Craudaunt turned its dark eye on me.

* * *

I awoke gasping for air to fill my empty lungs; my night terror had tried and nearly succeeded in smothering me with fear. Lawrence was nowhere to be found, but his absent flashlight and present backpack suggested he was checking the sewers. I lay there alone and awake as reality again set in, my breathing slowed, and the mental wounds festered, but closed. I was alive, and absurd as it was, I was overjoyed for that much.

Lawrence entered the room seconds after I had recomposed myself, already clad in traveling equipment and flashlight in hand. "Good morning" he said, and I chuckled at the irony of the statement. He ignored my response he continued "None of my Pokemon are awake yet. We'll have to go through the sewers the old fashioned way." He said, waving his flashlight for emphasis "Go to the bathroom in the corner, we wont be coming back here." He grabbed his backpack and left, spinning on his heels and whistling a carefree tune.

I took his advice and found it easy to relieve myself, having nearly soiled my pants only minutes before. In a way it almost seemed symbolic, in as much of a way as voiding in a dank corner of a dark, underground room could be. The finality of his words "We wont be coming back here" left a bittersweet taste in my mouth. This room was the first safe haven I had ever known, but at the same time it was too impractical to remain, and this place was all to close to memories I would sooner wish to distance myself from. In light of my night terror, and my new, unusually optimistic attitude, I was hopeful for what the rest of the world held for us. Despite my previous skepticism the night before, I myself had unknowingly put a piece of my heart into the vague possibility that the rest of the world was untouched by this chaos.

After I finished my business I did a double take of the room, to assure myself we had not left anything behind. Satisfied that the room was indeed emptied, I attached my tool belt and approached the girl. As proof that my nightmare was only just, she was peacefully dead and unmarred. I took a moment to look at her in greater detail.

Her black hair was not unlike my own, but longer, and held in a ponytail. She wore simple jeans and a gray coat. Her eyes were glazed over after so much time unneeded and dead, but a single streak of startling blue still remained intact. She was smaller than me, if she were to stand she would only come up to my shoulder, which was sensible for someone whom I could only guess was several years my junior.

Lawrence had attempted to convince me to leave her the night before, to turn a locker here into a makeshift coffin, and leave this room as her tomb, untouched below a city of phantoms. It was an apt proposal, but I vetoed it- in my dogmatism I would not accept a job half finished, and my compulsion to take and bury her properly was as powerful as ever. Lawrence seemed displeased by my decision, but he said nothing.

I recalled the night terror and I checked my own wrist, and behold; a small silver band with a dark stone placed within it rested on my left wrist. I would only wonder as to how it escaped my notice previously, but I assumed that a near death experience would inspire such a mistake.

Without further ado I hefted the young girl over my shoulder as a fireman would, and shifted on my feet to adjust for the extra weight. Once I felt as though I was ready to walk, I stepped outside and saw Lawrence, less than patient but waiting nonetheless.

He looked at his watch and explained to me "Its currently around noon. If we make good pace like we did yesterday, we could be out of the city within several hours." I nodded slowly, satisfied, he turned and peered into the dark expanse before us, and we commenced our walk through the urban labyrinth.

We did not make pace as we did yesterday, when we were quick and frantic to find safety, as opposed to now when we felt only the present but waning fear as we slowly traversed the sewers. We made infrequent attempts at conversation, but each time we would either believe to hear something and fall silent, or be reminded of our predicament and silence ourselves. Eventually we stopped trying.

I distracted myself from my night terror by pondering small details about myself, hoping that something would give me a glimpse at my past. I held little regard for it, as it was unlikely such a personal and insubstantial possession would be of any use to me, but curiosity beckoned, and I wondered on.

Water had long since ceased dripping through the storm drains, the missing element creating a void of noise that was both reassuring and uncomfortable. The damaged walls and sliced cables we passed ominously became all the more frequent and noticeable with flashlights at our disposal, and the silence between us was pregnant with caution.

Several hours into our journey we sat down for breakfast.

"How long until we reach the water treatment plant?" I asked, leaning against a wall as Lawrence removed one of the electric lamps from his backpack and turned it on, lighting up most of the surrounding area and allowing us to turn off our flashlights

The man paused from releasing our meal as he checked his watch and then closed his eyes to consult his mental map of the bowels of Goldenrod "At this rate, I'd say about an hour or two later than I thought. That assumes we don't stop for anything though" He resumed removing the meal and the fragrant smell of deli meat and tomatoes danced through the air, tickling my nose.

He distributed the sandwiches, my own was gone in several massive bites, his persevered longer as he ate it slowly. I leaned against a wall as I took a sip from my canteen, flinching as I felt something warm against the back of my head, before turning to find another sliced power cable, still warm to the touch.

Having seen my canteen Lawrence finished his current bite "Drink as much water as you want. The water treatment plant should have plenty we could take" he said, before resuming to eat his meal.

At the mention of water I glared into the waterway with suspicion, before turning my attention back to the cable; touching it lightly ' _Its still warm'_. "How long do these cables retain electricity anyways?" I asked, honestly surprised that even now the cables held some power, if only in the form of heat.

Lawrence seemed less impressed "They don't" he said looking at my oddly "Is that one still charged?" I neglected to answer as I pressed my hands against both sides of the split wire, and feeling their warmth in spite of all professional opinion.

My gaze turned back towards the water, again wrought with suspicion "What water Pokemon are there around Goldenrod, I only saw Corphish" I asked, seemingly changing the subject, but cautiously keeping my eyes still on the water.

"That's actually kinda weird. I don't think that there are many Corphish in Johto. Here in Goldenrod you'd usually only find your garden variety Magicarp, Horsea, Quilfish, and of course Tentacool and Tentacruel too." He busied himself with the remnants of his sandwich, even as the final two names echoed persistently within the confines of my mind, the water's calmness was shrouded in distrust.

' _Tentacruel, why weren't they on the surface? Surely they are opportunistic, one would assume that they would venture into the city'_

A feeling of foreboding suspicion took root in my gut, the kind where you were anticipating danger, but from where or what was uncertain. The two jellyfish Pokemon seemed to fit nicely into the mystery, but where?

 _'But Tentacruel and Tentacool are mostly made of water, if they stay out in the sun too long, then they dehydrate.'_

 _'But then again, they could travel by water. There is an entire system of waterways just beneath the city: attaching to the sea. A passageway that has been badly damaged ever since the invasion'_

My eyes fell upon the water, gone still in that instant.

 _'And my premonition is correct, we are very much in danger. We are being hunted.'_

My suspicion had proven correct as three shadows burst forward from the water, two Tentacool and a Tentacruel, each in trajectory to strike Lawrence. My hunch had been correct, the Tentacruel and Tentacool had taken to the sewers in light of yesterday, and either our food or our flesh had attracted the massive Tentacruel and his two un-evolved lackeys.

The predators were disadvantaged: any ambush relied on the prey's ignorance, and I had been far from ignorant.

I was in motion in the instant before the water erupted, my legs flew forward and kicked my senior away as the jellyfish Pokemon launched themselves, and I had retreated as the Tentacruel landed where he had been the instant prior. It turned towards me, eyes betraying annoyance towards myself, towards the prey that would deny it an easy meal.

The smaller of the Tentacool- whom I had nearly forgotten, aimed to take advantage of my focus on the larger Pokemon to launch a foul-smelling glob of ink at the spot I was standing. I skipped back a pace from the unknown substance that landed far too close to myself. Seconds later a hissing ensued as the ink ate away at the concrete floor, dissolving it with ease ' _Well that's not supposed to happen'._

My victory was short lived, the Tentacruel leaped once again- this time to my flank, reaching forward with it's deadly arms. I dove to the side; a distance I had thought to be far out of the predators reach and to the side, but the incoming attack turned and stretched, locking me within my adversaries powerful grip, as the miniscule needles within its arms searched for passage through my leather jacket.

My saving grace I assume, was again the anatomy of a Tentacruel. Tentacruel lack a complex anatomy, and to this extent a functional digestive system, meaning they are for the most part unable to consume prey fresh, as there exists no capacity to consume or digest prey. Tentacruel generally hunt by using nearly-microscopic needles to paralyze prey to prevent struggling, then a second injection of acid that would liquify the insides of the prey, allowing for a Tentacruel to consume the already digested nutrients via its proboscis.

Much to my fortune, the leather-polymer jacket I wore surprisingly provided protection against the small probes in the predator's arms that would inject me with paralyzing venom. Predator instinct was a stubborn thing, guiding creatures for thousands of years, the Tentacruel would wait for the paralysis that would never come, so in this respect, I had time.

Of course, based on the demolished walls, they didn't need poison to kill me.

As I was embattled with the two Pokemon, Lawrence was forced to fend for himself against the larger Tentacool, recovering from my kick seconds after the attack ensued. He turned and attempted to clumsily roll from his back to his feet, before quickly fumbling with his belt and bringing his wrench to bear and descending upon his assailant with a series of furious swings from all directions.

The Tentacool attempted to back away from the man's aggressive assault, launching another glob of ink at him: landing on the denim jacket he wore. Lawrence ignored it first, then swore as the foul smelling substance ate away at his coat, quickly tearing it off and throwing it at his opponent in a bid to obscure the jellyfish's vision.

It worked, the dissolving fabric clinging to the Pokemon's head, and Lawrence pressed his advantage. He quickly lunged forward and brought his wrench around in a diagonal swing: smearing the Pokemon's soft water-based body across the wall, with Lawrence only slightly worse for wear from the encounter.

With myself ensnared, the second Tentacool moved to avenge its pulverized brethren. This one was more cautious, keeping a good distance as Lawrence and itself circled each other- the former attempting to keep the enemy between himself and the Tentacruel.

It was the Tentacool that launched the first attack this time, flinging a glob of ink at a clumsy Lawrence who was forced to attempt to dodge each projectile by lunging right, only for another glob to nearly hit him as he ducked beneath it. Lawrence lunged forward, swinging his wrench to catch the Tentacool between it and the wall, but failed as the Tentacool manipulated the weak telekinetic powers that kept it afloat, falling down and back, before surging forward to reclaim lost ground and force Lawrence back with large amounts of acid.

Lawrence struggled and dodged each collection of acid as the floor grew increasingly treacherous- the acid turning the walkway which we had arrived on into a minefield. Lawrence swore as he realized this, his first step in the acid slowly working away at his shoes even as he was forced to dodge the onslaught.

Fortunately the Tentacruel was not inclined to aid its ally, more interested in its meal. Unfortunately said meal was still locked in its grasp and very, very opposed to the prospect of being consumed.

The Tentacruel grew bored and curious, and much to my misfortune, it opted to experiment with its food, giving me a curious squeeze that forced the air from my lungs and made my bones groan, before letting up, only to squeeze again, harder this time. And it did so again, and again, and again.

By the sixth playful squeeze my vision was dim, my body aching, and my lungs starved for oxygen. Lawrence was still frantically attempting to advance on the Tentacool, who halted him with another spray of ink. The situation was hopeless, each squeeze came a few inches closer to ending my life, my struggles against the steel grip that bound me were futile, and there was little hope that Lawrence could intervene on my behalf.

' _Please world, if there is such thing as a miracle, if there was ever a single thing I have done worth rewarding, I'd like to cash in those chips and get myself one'_

Four loud cracks echoed through the tunnel as an unseen force flung the Tentacool Lawrence had been fighting into the water and turned slamming against the Tentacruel and throwing the two of us to the ground even as half of it spurted into a fountain of blood.

Even though we had crumpled in a mess of limbs and tentacles, the struggle had not yet ended. Tentacruel bodies were redundant and tenacious, capable of withstanding massive trauma in most places while still retaining bodily functions.

The gray bonds that held me were loosened for only an instant, only just long enough for my hands to withdraw my knife from my belt. The Tentacruel resumed strangling me, but this time I was armed- yelling triumphantly as I plunged my knife into its mass of tentacles and drew it across, splitting them in two and freeing me.

Of course, I knew that freeing myself was only half the battle. I growled and spun, bringing myself to face my once-captor and plunged my knife into it with savage intent, twisting it for good measure. The Tentacruel howled and attempted to swing what remained of its arms at me, but not before I planted my boot in its head and kicked off of it, sending myself away from it and into the wall while knocking it into the water.

I cautiously righted myself so I was leaning against the wall, my breath haggard as I eyed the lump of tentacles sinkning in the water. It flailed violently for a moment, and then sunk. I eyed the surface warily and counted.

 _One second_

 _Two seconds_

 _Three seconds_

 _Four sec-_

The Tentacruel rose to the surface, unmoving and covered in what I could only assume to be blood and some other substance. Ink- I realized, taking in the dark smears on the ground where the Tentacool had fired upon Lawrence. The once deadly predator bobbed on the surface of the water, smoke beginning to rise where ink clung to its body as it was reduced to a pool of blood within seconds.

I collapsed against the wall, tasting gunpowder in the air as I haggardly gasped for breath, my heart throbbing against my black T-shirt. ' _But that can't be right'_ I thought to myself ' _If he had ammo, why didn't he use the gun before?'_ Besides, said person was currently heaving his lunch into the waterways. Even as I laid there against the wall, I felt sympathy for him. He knew there was a possibility that we would have to fight for our lives, but there was a difference between anticipating and doing.

Another form- presumably belonging to my savior- was at my side, this one smaller and more lithe than Lawrence's, checking my coat for acid or obvious stings. I was still too winded to move, and simply allowed it, catching my breath.

But there would be no rest for the weary.

My arm protested as the person's hand took my own and dragged me forward, pulling me to my feet and ending my reprieve, I yanked my arm away from the grip and leaned against the wall obstinately.

"We need to move quickly!" The person panicked "Other Tentacool and Tentacruel probably heard you struggling!" The thought of more giant, killer jellyfish inhabiting the sewers gave me the second wind I needed to take off in a sprint, hoping that Lawrence and our unidentified savior was in pursuit.

I sprinted ahead- flashlight in hand, passing two tunnels and approaching a third when I sensed the presence in the water beside me. I gasped in surprise, and stumbled into a duck as pink needles passed a hair's width above my head, imbedding themselves several inches into the wall to my left. Our savior was correct, we were no longer incognito.

I failed to recover from my stumble before more needles flashed in the darkness and raced towards where I was awkwardly attempting to catch my balance. There was no time to act, to recover and dive forward again. Death was coming, and Houndoom was well on its way.

Those needles would surely pass through me like a bullet, ripping me to shreds.

But the pain that accompanied evisceration never arrived.

A large gray blur passed in front of me, faster than I could track it, and a thousand small _pings_ tapped against its hide as the needles ricocheted off of its body. A metallic buzzing- one that sounded like an echo from within a suit of armor- followed, accompanied by a flash of light as electricity shot out from the blur and surged through the water. Several small forms- Tentacool I realized- were visible as the lightning passed through the water, outright vaporizing the water-composed jellyfish as it touched them.

I threw out my hands and caught myself against a wall as the blur passed- an intense light now radiating from it, so bright that it hurt to look at it. Footfalls pounded the pavement behind me, and as I got readied myself to run again, I turned and saw the woman who saved us earlier, and several seconds later Lawrence sprinting past me with new vigor, successfully overtaking me in our race of life and death. I could have sworn I saw a competitive, playful smirk on his face as he bolted past.

Then the unthinkable happened. He tripped.

The moment seemed to take forever, that sliver of time when his feet left the ground up until he landed face first on the concrete. It was a mistake worthy of any bad monster movie where a random bystander would fall and the protagonist watched helplessly as a ridiculously slow monster descended upon and devoured them. But this wasn't just some third-rate actor-this was Lawrence, and this wasn't a cheap film- the fatal blunder was very much reality.

Then the monster made it appearance.

"Lawrence! Check your right!" I yelled, as I dashed towards him, hoping to fend off the danger that was about to befall him.

Rather than looking, Lawrence immediately tucked in his arms and rolled to his left, away from the Tentacruel that seemed to materialize next to where he had fallen. The maneuver bought him precious seconds for me to run closer, and would have given me more if he hadn't hit the wall.

Cornered and vulnerable, with myself still too far away to intervene, Lawrence raised something in his hand and roared, hurling the white and red object towards the Tentacruel.

I recognized it immediately, and rejoiced silently as the pokeball soared towards the Tentacruel and nailed it in one of its two eyes. If it was a pokemon with a degree of physical competency, there would be no room for the Tentacruel to evade, and too high for it to reach and attack.

The pokeball bounced off the Tentacruel harmlessly, leaving it more annoyed than hurt, and continued its slow crawl towards Lawrence. I chastised myself mentally, he didn't have time to reach for a pokeball, whatever he threw was what he had been holding at the start of this chase. The metal blur came to mind. It was still lighting up the tunnel ahead, but barely within viewing distance and entirely oblivious to what was transpiring behind it, but if some of Lawrence's Pokemon were awake, maybe mine were as well.

A nano-second of doubt struck me as I reached into my coat to withdraw one of the capsules. What if I was wrong? What if whatever sprang out of it was still asleep, or the pokeball was empty, or worse yet, whatever was inside was just as dangerous as the Tentacruel on the outside.

' _No. Not time for that, every tenth of a hundredth of a second spent doubting myself is time wasted. If things take a turn for the worse, I'll have to wing it.'_

My hand whipped out of my jacked holding one of the pokeballs- hopefully one of the right ones, as though I had done it a million times before. "Now or never!" I yelled, my voice holding more confidence than I felt, my hand swung into a powerful pitch launching my Pokeball at high speeds towards the Tentacruel- aiming for the dome of its head. Killing it could wait, for now driving it back alone was my goal.

The pokeball stayed true to its course, zipping through the air towards the Tentacruel, which now had Lawrence shrunken against the corner as though his life depended on it. It cracked open an instant before impact, bright light erupting and transforming into a figure with brown regal wings, large tufts emerging from its head, and feet that ended in long, sharp talons.

The bird rode its inertia, taking full advantage of my speedy pitch, and sunk its talons into the top of its target's head, its powerful wings supporting it as it carried its prey through the air, then setting it down and pecking furiously at its face. The Tentacruel was too caught off guard to defend itself properly, flailing hopelessly as beak and talon dug and tore through its flesh in large rakes, before giving one last pathetic shake and ceasing.

The bird held onto its foe cautiously, pecking it twice more experimentally, and satisfied that the predator was indeed dead, turned towards me and cocked its head.

 _Noctowl. Nocturnal so it shouldn't have much issue seeing in the sewers. Very intelligent, potent psychic powers. No beard, so its not that old...I think? It seems just as potent with its talons...perhaps psychic powers ferment with age. No not ferment, but grow stronger? Probably, assuming that the beard theory is correct. Strong wings, to carry a Tentacruel. Fast thinker too, was ready to fight coming out of its pokeball, was I a trainer? Also, didn't flinch at drawing blood, instinct? Aware of situation from within pokeball? Possible. Adept bird of prey.'_

I paused and glanced at the mangled remains of the Tentacruel that threatened Lawrence's life a minute before _'Very adept bird of prey. Certainly adjusted awful fast.'_

"A little help down here please?" a soft, panting voice requested.

I glanced to my right, almost forgetting Lawrence was wedged into the corner where the wall met the ground. I gave him my hand- which he accepted gratefully and hoisted himself up as he calmed his breathing, "Where did Officer Jenny go?" He asked, sounding more curious than concerned.

"Officer Jenny?" I asked, puzzled.

Lawrence cleared his throat "Yeah, you know, turquoise hair, about eh tall, just saved us both from a very painful death"

"You know her?"

Lawrence brought his hand to his forehead in exasperation "Yeah, sure, I know her. Any idea which way she went?"

I scratched my chin thoughtfully "I imagine she followed your Pokemon"

The tunnel was dark again, said Pokemon was no longer in sight.

"Alright then, suppose we should be gentlemanly and show her the way out" Lawrence proposed.

 _'I'm pretty sure she had a gun with her, and I'm pretty sure she knew how to use it. Courtesy aside, I'm certain she would be a great help, maybe she could spare some ammo for the empty gun we have, that would be useful.'_

"Alright" I said, once switching on my flashlight in the dim tunnels "You" I turned towards Noctowl, who cocked its head in response "Keep watch, if anything is close to us, give us a heads up." Noctowl nodded in reply.

I turned back towards my senior "Lawrence-"

"I gotcha kid" he said with a curt nod, and resumed his speedy run through the tunnels, presumably in the direction of the exit. With Noctowl now watching our no-longer vulnerable flanks, Lawrence were given both a luxury and a duty; you can focus ahead, you must focus ahead.

Concrete blurred into a messy gray smear as we sprinted through. Thankfully, while twists and turns were frequent in our path, it was relatively straightforward- a single path with with no forks. No sudden coveys from which a sly predator could shoot out and ambush us, and no way for our quarry to slip through- no snares that we could not find.

Time drew on, and though we continued unopposed save for the aching in our legs, not all remained stagnant. Sure signs that we had either exited the city or were nearing such and exit became evident. Fewer manholes and storm drains littered the ceilings, less light filtering into the shaft, and we had no choice but to slow so we could steady the flashlights in our hands.

The tunnel grew more narrow, and the walkway lowered and came closer to the water. Such were dangerous developments, narrow tunnels meant less room to maneuver- neither I nor Lawrence would be able to perform the rolls and dives that had saved us earlier. Lower walkways meant we were closer to danger, only offset by Noctowl's vigilant watch.

On the other hand, this translated to greater advantages for our surprisingly fleet of foot friend, whom to the best of our knowledge was still with the Pokemon from earlier. The decrease in space would make projectiles easier to account for and intercept, and electricity was much more effective on the Tentacool than their needles were on it, so the inability to dodge was hardly detrimental.

' _I'm reading to much into this, just focus on reaching her before it becomes necessary for her to put my theories to the test. Secure the asset, her survival until then is in her own hands.'_

The scales tipped further away from our favor around another corner; the pathway ended entirely, narrowing gradually until it was but an inch-wide ledge above the water. Lawrence shot a glance at Noctowl who in turn shot a look that seemed to say "I'm doing my job". Lawrence nodded, kneeling down over the ledge of the walkway and stuck his wrench into the water, testing its depth.

The wrench sunk down just over halfway, passing through about a foot of water before meeting the ground beneath the surface. Satisfied, Lawrence vaulted over the edge into the water and turned to me, gesturing for me to do the same.

I groaned as I reluctantly stepped over the edge and into the cold water and shifted my feet uncomfortably as I thought of what may have tainted the waters- rain from two days ago? Blood from from the day after?

Lawrence, ever perceptive, noticed my reluctance, and sought to properly motivate me.

"Whats the matter, city boy got dirt under his nails?" Lawrence, ever perceptive, noticed my reluctance, and had no reservations towards teasing me for it.

"City boy don't want Tentacool " I growled in retort, his ridicule striking a little too close to the truth.

Lawrence ignored me, running his hand over the concrete on the walls, feeling water that had splashed up onto them "She came through here".

I walked several steps ahead and felt the walls, noticing how high up the water had splashed "She was running from something"

Lawrence nodded "We should too. You may see a Tentacool yet"

His words sent a shiver down my spine, we had lingered to long. Tentacool and Tentacruel may not be community driven, but when they saw a threat, or felt their territory was encroached upon, they handled the threat. The destruction in the sewers indicated that there was a vast difference between a territorial Tentacruel and a predatory Tentacruel. One would not give us the chance to fight back, and the other was already dead.

A sinking feeling swelled in my stomach as again I looked at the water behind us, a world of danger lying beneath the calm mirror that was its surface. I shuddered again, and beat the feeling down my skin still crawled, my heart beat against my ribs violently, and my eyes darted back and forth across the water as we continued our walk through the urban labyrinth.

Lawrence's footfalls sent ripples through the water like a cannonball, My own breathing-so vital and normal to hear-sounded raspy and noisy, Noctowl's wing beats thundered in my ears with the power of a storm. Every small sound the three of us made rung like a symphony of morbid anticipation, music that only I could hear. Throughout what remained of the trek- the mile wide footsteps and the hour long minutes- Lawrence and Noctowl remained weary, but neither felt what I felt, or if they did, they didn't show it. They didn't feel this fear.

I recognized it, it was the same feeling I had when we were being sneaked up on by the Tentacruel, only amplified. It was the feeling prey felt when they were being stalked, and they knew they were being stalked, but couldn't do anything to fight against those that were stalking them.

I yanked on Lawrence's sleeve and motioned for him to let me whisper in his ear, I did not know if our predators could understand human speech, but it was better not to risk it "We are being followed" Lawrence blanched visibly, and tried to turn around, but before he could look behind us I grabbed him roughly by his shoulder "Don't look back" I whispered harshly "They'll strike if they realize we are onto them".

Lawrence exhaled an inhaled, attempting to control his breathing "What is it? I can't hear it." he whispered back, a facade of calm slipping over him.

"Tentacool I think, Tentacruel wouldn't be able to submerge in this water"

"What makes you think we are being followed?" Lawrence inquired quietly.

"A hunch, the same one I got before we were attacked before the Tentacruel" I recalled the occasion, either minutes or hours before.

"You mean when you kicked me?"

"Yes"

"Lets run on it then, it was right before" Lawrence whispered warily back "So we can't look back where they are, can we fight them? Outrun them?"

"No, we can't outrun them with the water slowing us down, and they know we are a threat, if they are stalking us, its only because they think that they have the advantage" I whispered.

"So why haven't they attacked us yet?" Lawrence asked "If they hold the advantage, and they think they have surprise on their side, what are they waiting for?"

 _'What indeed?'_ I wondered, turning over the hints in my head, looking for the answer. They were confident they could kill us, and they thought we were dangerous enough to organize to achieve that end. They were much stronger than us, and they could chase us down if we were to run _._ I thought on this for a few more seconds. "I don't know" I replied dejectedly.

"We need to know what will set them off so we can avoid doing that. If we want to figure that out, we need to know why they haven't attacked us to begin with" Lawrence whispered harshly "Maybe they want to corner us, then eat us?"

I shook my head at his suggestion "No, Tentacool don't have the means to eat prey as big we are. Think about it, the Tentacruel tried to eat me, I think, but the Tentacool that you fought seemed intent on turning you into a puddle of acid. They are territorial, not hungry"

"Are they doing this for sport then?" He guessed again "Practicing, taking pleasure in the hunt?

"Tentacool don't hunt, they can't, I think they just grab whatever swims too close to them" I explained "Besides, they know better than to take it easy on us. Do you feel that tension in the air? It's malicious intent, thirst for vengeance. They know we killed several of them" I took in a sharp breath of air as the answer struck me "That's it!"

"What's it?" demanded Lawrence.

"We aren't the only ones in these sewers, and we aren't the only ones that fought them" I exhaled.

Lawrence cringed "They want us to lead them to Officer Jenny, clever bastards." Lawrence swore "What can we do?"

"We keep on going" I said "Any sudden changes in behavior, and they'll notice something is up, we won't make it three steps before they melt us"

"The hell?" Lawrence protested quietly "We just lead them to their next victim and all die together? What kind of plan is that?"

I growled and Lawrence backed down "I think I have a plan, to buy us some time to run for exit, but we need to get closer for it to even have a chance of succeeding."

Our steps were painful and deliberate for the remainder of our walk. There was no doubt that both Lawrence and Noctowl now felt the same sense of dread I had. In an ironic way, Lawrence's intense struggle to avoid acting differently with a lack of ignorance made him seem suspicious, every last step seemed calculated, meant to be the exact same distance apart, with no drift whatsoever, and his breathing had a glaringly forced facade draped over it.

Noctowl, for its knowledge, was seemingly indifferent. It maintained the same near-silent wing beats it had before without the meticulous strain that Lawrence had. _'How has it adapted so well?'_ I wondered.

It was around the time that this thought crossed my mind that I began to notice light coming from around the corner, indicating that we had either found the officer from earlier or the exit to the sewers. Either would spring the ambush that had been set for us, it was near time for our own trap to spring.

"Noctowl, here, take a break" I said as we drew closer to the corner, holding out my arm so that Noctowl could land on it. Noctowl complied and wrapped its talons around my arm. Lawrence steadily took note of my actions before continuing to focus on the act we were playing out. _'Just one corner more'_

My time in the sewers, though limited, left my eyes unprepared for the light around the corner. I winced and turned slightly away from the intense light, Lawrence grunting and doing the same, Noctowl shifted and ruffled its feathers in obvious discomfort.

When our eyes adjusted to the sudden light, we all peered down the tunnel towards the source; tendrils of bright sun flowing through the crusty, worn fingers of a steel grate. Water flowed freely between the bars, into a small, natural reservoir below. Beyond that one grate: escape.

About halfway between us and the exit, the woman trudged through the shin-high water slowly, the pokemon I had seen earlier flying beside her, a small for splayed over its back.

 _'The body I recovered'_ I realized, reprimanding myself for so hastily running away, and reprimanding myself again for not realizing I had not forgotten anything. I could not afford to lose things so carelessly, not when the stakes were this high. _'Focus, the stakes are higher than ever, you can't get distracted on something you might accidentally do later'._

I nudged Lawrence lightly with my elbow to get his attention, then nodded to warn him to get ready. "Hey!" I hailed, still walking nervously as I waited for a response.

The woman turned our way in response, her red eyes wide with surprise "Your alive!" She yelled back, lowering her guard.

The distance between us shrunk further _'How much distance could they cover before we could act? How close do we have to be for them to spring the trap?'_ I mentally asked myself.

"Yes, you have my gratitude for the assistance" I yelled back "But why did you bolt so quickly, the light bulb would have been a huge help" My eyes darted towards her and the exit, the most obvious signal I could think to make without alerting the Tentacool.

"It has a name ya know, its Magnezone" Lawrence said, to which I roughly elbowed him in the ribs to silence him.

Jenny seemed to notice this, and seemed more wary by our odd behavior "I thought you were behind me most of the way, by the time I realized you were gone I thought you got killed or got separated."

Lawrence and I continued our walk towards her, and she was now wary, no doubt ready to turn on her heels and flee at any moment _'That good'_ I thought _'We can't be much more than ten feet away, is this close enough?'_ A stab of panic ripped through my body, feeling like someone had sucker punched me in the stomach _'Too close'._

I spun on my heels "Noctowl, whirlwind!" I commanded, allowing Noctowl to launch itself off of my arm and flap its wings in strong strokes that created powerful gusts of wind behind us. I allowed myself I grinned with both relief and horror as the strong winds pushed the water back in waves, launching small blue blobs-about a dozen in all- back through the tunnel. Several collided with the walls, a couple of which were actually crushed by the change in momentum, but most were unharmed.

Lawrence was off the moment I turned around, sprinting down the tunnel and splashing with every step while yelling "Don't just stand there! Run damnit!". A second later more splashes joined his, and both quickly grew further away.

Noctowl landed back on my shoulder, making me wince as its talons sunk into my flesh searching for grip. Noctowl, to its credit seemed surprised as blood spurted from the wound, and slightly ashamed as I grunted with each arm swing as I begun sprinting, this wasn't enough for it to abandon its purpose though, as it continued firing distance moves down the tunnel, attempting to keep the pursuers at bay.

I closed my eyes and didn't stop until I felt the warmth of the sun on my skin, then opened them.

"Shit!" I swore, almost colliding with the metal grate "There isn't a door here?" I asked, directed towards Lawremce.

Lawrence roared, swinging his wrench against the bars in desperation to no effect. I turned back towards the Tentacool, in the precious seconds wasted, they had nearly recovered the distance we had gained from our slight of hand.

"Noctowl! Use reflect!" I commanded, fighting the panic in my voice and lifted my arm creating another roost for it. Nowtowl quickly hopped on, wrapping its talons around it to avoid breaking the skin. And make a gesture with its wings, eyes aglow.

A second later, a Tentacool launched itself at us from the water, tentacles outstretched and prepared to snap us our bones like toothpicks. I held my breath in the instant that it was airborne, silently praying that I had not miscalculated in my quick thinking.

The Tentacool was halted midair by an invisible barrier, bouncing off of it with a hard thud. I released the breath I had been holding.

"Screw it!" Lawrence yelled "Magnezone, break this thing down!" I heard a loud clang as metal struck metal, Magnezone's adversary rapidly giving way under its brute force. The fight was short, ending with a terrible screeching as the bars bent, and a splash as their mangled remains hit the water.

I silently rejoiced as the last obstacle gave way, giving us freedom to leave the watery labyrinth. Jenny ran through first, hopping deftly over the destroyed grate, followed by myself with Noctowl atop my shoulder, and finally Lawrence with Magnezone at his side.

We had done it, by whatever miracle or luck, we had survived our first brush with death. I couldn't help but break out laughing in joy, Jenny did the same. A few seconds passed between the two of us before I wondered what Lawrence was doing and I ceased laughing. In the absence of my fervent laughter though, a new sound became apparent, pinging.

The Tentacool were tenacious and vengeful. They were not content with us simply leaving their territory, not after eluding them so long and killing several of them. They would only be content when we were dead and our bodies could no longer be even remotely compared to a human corpse.

And it showed when all of them lined up, each rapidly shooting pink needles at the only thing that separated us from them, determined to beat it down with their pink hailstorm. Small fractures running across the surface indicated it was working.

Lawrence stood in front of the exit, his back towards us as he watched the cracks grow and stretch across the surface of our barrier. His eyebrows furrowed and his face morphed into a scowl as he looked at them, the gears in his head turning, no doubt wondering if we should flee inland or find a way to stop them.

Lawrence finally made his decision "Magnezone use magnet bomb!" he said, pointing his finger at the nearly faded barrier before any of us could react.

Magnezone complied, several small metallic rocks materializing in front of it, and then tossed them down the tunnel. A blast then shot out next to the target, tearing what was left of our reflect to shreds and tossing needles away from us with the force of the blast. Lawrence didn't wait to see what became of the Tentacool before issuing another command, even as our ears rung with noise from the blast "Again, on the exit way!".

Again, Magnezone complied, and again, the attack ripped through its target, reducing the tunnel to rubble, filling the exit with an assortment of mismatched rocks. Lawrence stared at the rubble for a second, before turning away, and releasing a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the water flow and onto the dry grass beside the exit way.

Lawrence dusted off his hands and then rubbed them together "Okay people, that sewer kicked us up just barely outside the city, and there is a storm that seems to be coming up behind us" he said, gesturing towards massive thunderclouds that hung over the center of the city but I recognize the place, and according to the map the water treatment plant isn't more than a twenty minute walk from here, and the clouds still look a few hours out so lets get a move on"

Lawrence turned away and began walking towards a dirt path that I presumed led to the water treatment plant. Jenny shot me a questioning glance, to which I shrugged and began walking after him, and heard her jog over to after her moment of indecision had passed.

Lawrence stopped suddenly and turned around "Hey Magnezone, what's the holdup? This path goes through some woods so we need someone to help keep us safe".

In truth I had forgotten about our steel guardian, still beside the sewer exit, unmoving. It paid Lawrence no heed, putting all of its attention in to watching the tunnel exit.

Magnezone then put forward both its arms and shot a continuuous weak bolt of electricity into the small stream as we all waited for something to happen. We were rewarded when our ears were greeted with a terrible shrieking- the kind associated with the terrible pain of a dying animal. Only when the shrieking stop did Magnezone cease pumping electricity into the water.

There was no doubt now: the Tentacool were dead.

Lawrence looked pale at the actions of his pokemon, but Magnezone returned to Lawrence's side once the bloody deed was done. Lawrence just stared dumbly at the sewer exit, unaware of the world around him.

Jenny walked up to him after a few moments and shook his shoulder "We can't stay here" She said.

Lawrence shook himself out of his stupor "Sorry, you're right" He then turned towards Magnezone "Good job, you did what you had to do, and you kept us safe. Wouldn't have made it out of there if it wasn't for you. Just help us get to the water treatment plant and you can take a rest, okay?" Magnezone buzzed happily, having been oblivious to its trainers concerns. Lawrence turned back and started heading down the road, Jenny in tow.

Lawrence and I both came to understand why Magnezone did what it did, mercy simply was not an alternative. But when did this brutality begin? Where did it come from, and where did it end? I looked at Noctowl on my shoulder, still ashamed of having accidentally cutting it when it first landed on it, and yet having ripped an offending Tentacruel to shreds. Lawrence's concerns were neither unnecessary nor unwarranted. But at least these pokemon were still our friends, in all their might we could still depend on them, even when I was separated from mine by a lifetime of memories.

So no matter how it had happened, one thing mattered. No matter how brutal the means, the Labyrinth had fallen.


	3. Chapter 3: Aftermath

I flinched as a sudden crack behind me interrupted my few minutes of appreciation for our surroundings. One needed not see the source to recognize it, and I sighed at the thought of our beautiful surroundings being haunted by violence.

And indeed, it was beautiful. The sewer exit fed water into a small pond of sorts-probably no more than a hundred meters in diameter, that in turn fed into a stream, which I assumed led to the water treatment facility. The land bordering pond's murky waters was grassy, save for a dirt path just barely wide enough for a car to traverse comfortably, traveling closely alongside the lake and continuing to follow the stream across the way. On the other side of our modest road, a wall of trees stood tall, their sheer volume made the forest itself seem adamant against any who may intend to cross through it, and were the countless arbor not enough to ensure this, small shrubs lay close to the ground armed with thorns in a misshapen and hostile rug.

To the path goer however, the arbor beside the road would seem pleasant. The canopy of trees cast the path in shade, shielding travelers from the unforgiving sun, and the cool air beneath its leaves was flowed constantly out of the woods, pushed onwards by the wind unto the path and pond.

I relished in the serenity of my surroundings, this was after all, my first taste of nature. It felt empty, but not the same unnatural emptiness of the ghost city Goldenrod, the hollow shell it was. This was a different sort, a detachment from the world around it.

And yet violence persisted even here.

Lawrence yelped, clutching his swollen cheek as he reeled back from the open handed strike. He stumbled back into balance and looked at his assailant flabbergasted "What the heck was that for!"

Jenny remained silent as she withdrew the offending hand.

"The Tentacool?" Lawrence protested "It wasn't my idea!" Jenny paused for a moment, and then turned towards me, crimson irises glowing with fury.

It was a perfectly acceptable response, when I thought about it. We had after all, intentionally put her in danger without her knowledge nor her consent.

"It worked out in the end didn't it?" I hazarded, hoping that it would be sufficient to calm her.

It was not.

"In Kid's defense" Lawrence added "the Tentacool would have found you anyways. When we found out they were following us it was just a straight shot down the tunnel and to the exit."

Jenny remained tense for several seconds, but then relaxed as she saw reason "Where were you planning on going after you got out of the sewers?"

"You see the path going down that stream down there?" Lawrence pointed at the path I saw earlier "It heads to a water treatment plant, we figured it was as safe a place as any to spend the night, and plan our next move."

With that small conflict resolved we walked again in silence.

"Your accent," Lawrence started "Are you from Hoenn?"

"Yes" Jenny nodded "Some of the officers in Goldenrod called me a few days ago and asked me for some help in a terrorism investigation."

"The thing with the contest hall right? They called you all the way up here just for that? How come?"

"Yeah, that one. Hoenn had heavy terrorist activity last year, so Hoenn officers have a bit of experience with this kind of thing" Jenny replied. I caught the implication that she was an officer, and made note of it mentally.

"Oh yeah, my grandpa told me about that." Lawrence said eagerly "What were they, team Aqua and team Earth? Whatever happened to them anyways?"

"Team Aqua and Team Magma" Jenny corrected "They formally disbanded voluntarily, and we haven't heard anything since" she answered, raising her hand and making an odd hand gesture as she rotated her hand about the wrist rapidly.

"So did you find the suspected terrorists you were looking for, Jenny?" I inquired curiously, wondering where the conversation would lead.

Jenny shook her head "I didn't get a chance to investigate, I only arrived the a few hours before I met you two in the sewers." she answered "But I don't think that there were any, not that it matters now, and it just looks like some people were in the wrong place at the wrong time now."

"Well who knows," Lawrence chimed in "maybe it was terrorists, just unleashing a nasty invention that makes all Pokemon go bonkers?"

This got my attention "You really think that's possible?" I asked "That this was a man made disaster?"

Lawrence shrugged "Maybe, maybe not." He reasoned "But when you think about it, there's Pokemon that can use moves like hypnosis right? To control people and other Pokemon. Well I remember hearing on the news about a crime syndicate that created a machine that could control Pokemon in a massive area. Maybe we're looking at something like that, just a bit rougher and a lot bigger."

This created just as many questions as answers "Okay then," I responded "but what made them so... why are they so deadly?"

"That I wouldn't know the answer to." Lawrence confessed "It might be from the same mind machine garbage, or maybe something else." Lawrence's brows were furrowed in contemplation "What about you Jenny, what's your thinking on this?"

Jenny touched her chin in thought before responding "I recall an incident in Orre _ years ago when a terrorist organization experimented with a method of altering Pokemon in order to make them more dangerous. I'm not sure about the specifics, but a lot of people were hurt by their experiments. Real wounds, like gashes and broken bones. I think that they were eliminated once, but came back only to be eliminated again. Maybe they're back again, and fed up with Orre?"

"Well, anything is possible" Lawrence said "When you think about it, it isn't all that hard to imagine that either one, or even a little bit of both could throw an entire city into chaos."

"Fair enough." Jenny said nonchalantly "You have an accent too, are you Sinnovian?"

 _'Change of subject, maybe she's hiding something'_

"Yeah" Lawrence confirmed "But my mom was from Hoenn, but she traveled a lot, before meeting my dad and settling down in Sinnoh."

"So do you have family in Hoenn?" Jenny asked.

"Well, my grandpa lived there" Lawrence answered "But he died about a month ago"

Jenny flinched "Sorry I asked".

"Nah don't worry about it. He lived a good life, always smiling and laughing to help people smile and laugh. Just kept on being happy til he died I guess, not so bad a way to go. Still a bit hard to believe he's gone though".

"This incident didn't invent death, just reminded us of it" I consoled "Perhaps it was a mercy, there is no need for someone so close to death to go through this kind of hell before his passing."

"Nah, I'm sure its all nice and cozy back in Hoenn, he'd be fine there. He'd be upset that this happened, probably more than a little scared, but he'd just laugh and try to help in any way he still could" Lawrence guffawed loudly, mirthful with reminiscence.

 _'Lawrence is disillusioning himself'_ I realized. Jenny only arrived briefly after everything went wrong, and if she was still in Hoenn when everything started, she would have news on Hoenn. Lawrence was smart, and must have realized that she could answer his question. But then again, it was easier to pretend it was day when curtains are drawn over the darkness.

I looked at Jenny expectantly, hoping to read her reaction. If she knew the truth, of which I had no doubt, then felt no obligation to tell us, or perhaps an obligation to not inform us. She was contented to just stand quietly as Lawrence rambled on.

Suddenly Jenny's eyes fixated on something to our right "Is she okay? She's been asleep for a while now."

I followed her gaze and saw the girl who's body I had recovered, and cringed as I felt a wave of dark thoughts and sharp responses surge forward from the darkest corners of my mind. I stood still intently, fighting a raging battle that only I could seem as I mentally reasserted control of myself.

"Are you alright?"

Jenny's interruption shook me from my dark trance "No" I paused for a moment and continued "She's not okay. She was reminded of death more than any of us." Despite all the force and strength I attempted to put into my voice, it was still barely distinguishable from a sad whimper. There was no faking it; we had slumped into hopelessness.  
The light between the trees besides us seemed a little bit dimmer, the breeze less gentle. Our feet kicked the earth angrily with every step, we were moving, none of us knew where to, or how far, but we were moving. But outside of the one thing that separated us from the city of ghouls behind us, our trip was as silent as that same street that morning of the day before.

* * *

Several more hours gave an image to the destination we had been hoping to achieve by days end, with several more hours of daylight still.

The layout of the plant was simple enough. The small river we were following flowed into a large building of the compound, near the entrance. Pipes could be observed leaving that building and leading into large vats of water in the field surrounding the facility. Several smaller buildings were scattered about the clearing, including one that directly bordered the river, slightly taller than the other scattered structures, emitting the deafening roar of rushing water as it took from the stream to turn its turbines.

The roar of the small hydroelectric generator was our first indicator of civilization, alerting us as we continued to trudge on our beaten path. It was a welcome sound to my aching legs, my feet and calves forced to march onwards without pause after sprinting for our lives underground.

We followed Lawrence as he passed the small building and continued onto what I assumed was the main building, feeling our spirits lift slightly as we passed a small field of flowers, wild and beautiful, in the chaotic way that only nature could manage. This much, at least the world had not taken from us.

"I came here once to help fix the hydroelectric dam" Lawrence said, shattering the thawing ice over our conversation "The inside of the main building is more comfortable than it looks, come on."

I scanned the facility for under scrutiny, finding the entirety completely vacant as I looked from building to building. "No one's here, are we sure its safe Lawrence?".

Lawrence nodded confidently "It's not empty for the reason you think it is. Goldenrod city declared a state of emergency immediately after shit hit the fan. Most city employees were given leave of absence, and the water plant only really requires maintenance every few days, with the water generator and computers. Nothing has attacked this place." The yet went without saying, a reminder that we could not stay here for long, no, safety had to be found somewhere, somewhere that could protect itself. Only then in securities embrace could we battle the horror inside us.

Lawrence lead us towards the main building, walking up to the front door and trying to open it "Dangit, its locked" Lawrence swore "Anyone see another way in?"

I peaked around the side of the building and scanned the walls for other entrances "Nothing here" I stated.

"There's a window around this side, we could break it if we cant get in any other way" Jenny's voice called out.

"Lets try to avoid that" Lawrence repeated, yanking on the handle in once more futile attempt as he muttered curses under his breath. "Alright, so maybe we can find a spare key lying around?"

I looked at the bird of prey on my shoulder curiously "Noctowl, could you use confusion to work on the tumbler in the lock?" Noctowl squeezed its narrow shoulders together in a brief shrug, before looking at the lock, most likely contemplating the feasibility of my idea.

"Don't try anything yet" Jenny warned, kicking over a small rock on the ground "Here, wouldn't want to risk breaking the lock" Jenny flashed the small piece of metal and then tossed it towards Lawrennce, who caught it deftly and inserted it into the door, exhaling visibly as the key turned and a small _click_ was audible from within the door.

Lawrence turned the doorknob and swung the door open, revealing a medium sized hallway, composed of simple, large bricks turned white with a thick coat of paint. Two wooden doors with small glass windows appeared on the immediate right, small plates next to them indicating what they were-offices- and who they belonged to. The left side of the hallway had similar plates, but their doors were without windows and their designations- chlorination and filtering, for example- varied greatly from the offices.

Lawrence swung open the first door on the right, revealing a modest office, furnished with a small wooden desk against one wall- host to a multitude of papers and drawings and equipped with a decent office chair, two less then comfortable looking lounge chairs along the wall opposite to the desk, and a high window on the wall opposite to the door, a mini-fridge was on the wall with the chairs, accompanied by what appeared to be a small pantry. The walls in themselves were not bare, various lined them, such as the one clock in the room or various forms of memorabilia.

Lawrence wasted no time acclimating, throwing down his day pack and taking the office chair by the desk, with Jenny following his lead and planting herself in one of the lounge chairs, and after a moment of indecision, I met them in their exhausted rest, taking the seat beside Jenny.

"So" Lawrence said, breaking the silence "I think we oughta stay here for the night and decide where to set out in the morning, there's not many more hours of daylight left, and I'd rather not risk leaving and searching for shelter elsewhere." This prompted silent nods of agreement from both me and Jenny, contented with our current surroundings, if only for a single night of safety "What else?

"We should set up a watch" Jenny said, accepting Lawrence's invitation to suggestions "Just because this place hasn't been attacked yet doesn't mean it won't be, especially now that people are here."Jenny tapped her chin contemplatively "I don't know all the Pokemon you two have, but I think Magnezone should watch for the rest of the day and Noctowl can relieve it at night, fair?"

I made to nod, but Lawrence interjected "Magnezone doesn't need sleep, it can help Noctowl through the night, and I have some nocturnal Pokemon that can help out too. If security is a problem for all of you, we can up the anty with the watch."

"Unless Magnezone happens to have night vision, I don't think it will do much good outside at night." I said "As for additional watch, a single Pokemon in addition to Noctowl should suffice, we don't want to attract attention."

"How about Magnezone patrols the building" Jenny suggested "He could light the inside up with flash without attracting too much attention."

"Right." Lawerence agreed "Also kid, we still need to check out what Pokemon you have don't we?"

"You want me to start that now?" I asked.

"No, there's something else that we need, come with me. You too Magnezone. Jenny, see if you can find anything, I'll be back soon." Lawrence turned back towards the door and exited, Magnezone shortly behind him.

I followed, not bothering to dismiss Noctowl from my shoulder or close the door on my way out, and followed Lawrence as he walked down the hallway, checking the doors as he went mumbling "Not you, not you, not you, not you, ah! There we go!" He exclaimed suddenly, opening a door, and fishing through the pile of items on the other side. A few moments later he emerged again holding a long item in his hands "Here".

I missed a beat "A shovel?"

Lawrence nodded solemnly "We can't drag around a corpse forever, It's time for a burial." Lawrence paused for a moment shocked by how callous his words seemed "Its not clean and its not easy, but now's as good a time to finish this as any. There were flowers in the field, grab them, there was nice hill near the stream with a good sized tree, you might be able to dig around the roots there. I'll try to fish around here to see if I can find anything to help. But it all begins with this" Lawrence said, holding out the shovel.

I accepted the shovel gingerly, as though gripping it to hard would cause it to shatter. "Thank you, for letting me get this far. I know you didn't exactly approve of it, but thanks for grabbing her back in the sewers it means a lot, I'd like to do something civil in all this."

Lawrence waved it off "We all have our baggage, if this helps you, it helps everyone" Lawrence paused for a moment "We'll get out of this eventually, we'll run and run till we're out of here, someone else can wipe this place up. We can run as much as we want, but if we forget our humanity, we'll never escape. Bury her now, so you can bury this later, you can thank me later." He turned towards his own companion "Magnezone" he said simply. Magnezone gave a _bzzzzzt_ and then deposited the girl that it had been had holding onto me.

"I'll also explain your... condition to Jenny while you're gone. I'm surprised we made it this far without introductions as it is."

I nodded, there was nothing to be said. I walked out the door back into the field, the sun shining as it approached the edge of the horizon, even as dark clouds from the city approached us. Noctowl remained on my shoulder, my only companion from a forgotten past, the only one that could know the name to the face of the girl I carried.

* * *

I followed the stream until I found the spot that Lawrence had informed me of- not far at all from where we entered, just across the river, the flower field easily in observable distance, the stream running right at the foot of the hill. The wind that carried the Goldenrod's storm forced its way past the trees and into the clearing, much of its gusto lost in the wild arbor of the surrounding woods. That which remained of this force was just a gentle breeze, brushing the grass to no avail, all the power that made the gale worth reckoning lost.

And I could not help but ask myself, how far have we gone? A day's journey by foot, surely. But how many miles did our feet touch in our escape? A mere hour by car? An instant by plane? Had only the denizens of that forgotten city had known a mere day before the attack, then we could have all walked out together.

And this girl on my shoulder, whose hair moves in the wind? Surely, if in a day an entire city could be vacated into the surrounding woods, the life of a single girl- no more than a teenager- was not too much to ask was it? Was the attack just a day's walk away from these tame woods so brutal and viscous that every life spared must be wrested from the maw of the beast? And what was so special about us lucky few who survived, in the face of an entire city wiped out? Why did we live by a series of impossibilities, when thousands could have been saved at the expense of but a single day, a single warning? Had we been doomed to die anyways? Did we fail those who were left behind?

"I'm sorry Lawrence, but I cant forget." I said solemnly "I've already forgotten, and that is a crime so terrible that no matter how many days we put between us and now, I'd sooner die in that city than live with the guilt that comes with this ignorance"

I eased the dead girl off my shoulder, carefully placing her so that she would not roll down the slope and began digging silently, watching for roots from the tree as I slowly carved out a small grave for her.

I was not without aid though; Noctowl set off and returned with flowers from the field grasped in its talons, Lawrence returned bearing a large plastic container that would serve as a makeshift coffin. We didn't say anything as he arrived, nor when he left, there were simply no words for such a grim situation.

The hole grew, first to the size of a suitcase, then to the size of a desk, and hours later to the size of a closet. By then the sun had traveled to the far end of the horizon, and the dark storm clouds took its place, their rolling mass nearly upon me.

I looked at the young girl again, laying peacefully in the plastic container, her face unmarred and innocent, her expression peaceful and calm, her posture still and restful. I didn't know that I had planned to speak until the first words came out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry I forgot you"

The words hit me like a rampaging Tauros, though they were my own. "I don't even know if I knew you, but you held onto my wrist when you died, so even if you were a complete stranger looking for safety when you were afraid, I'm sorry for forgetting that." Tears now ran down my cheeks- unbidden but unopposed.

"But then again, I feel like I knew you. Once. I suppose that is the real tragedy isn't it? Not to die, not to be murdered- no you'd live on in the hearts of others. But to die without anyone knowing that you ever lived? You may as well have not been born at all. I am the only one who could have remembered, and I failed to uphold your memory." No words of criticism or reassurance came from her deceased throat.

"So for that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that this is the best I can do, that I couldn't save you or even remember you. But I'm going to make a promise. I'm promising to at least remember that you died. What happened to you- someone will know. I wont forget that your life was stolen from you. And I promise that someday I'll remember who you were. I'll keep trying to remember you until I succeed, even if I'm afraid of knowing what I lost." Again, painful silence.

"You know, I can't help but wonder if there was anything I could have done." I continued, not expecting a response "I mean, I don't even know what I did, but I survived. I don't really understand why, did I see something no one else did? Or was it jus- yes, it was probably just fools luck. So yeah, just bad luck."

I sobbed once, wallowing in all the despair and fear and sorrow I had felt over the last two days, I basked in my own mourning of the life I may have once had "Look at me, breaking down because of self-pity. I fared far better than you. I wont break down for what has happened after this, just give me today to mourn it all. And I swear I won't die until I know who you are, and who you were. And when I do-" I paused to look at my wrist, the moonstone on my wrist band appeared cool in the setting sun. And around her neck, a small necklace, with an embedded amber stone gleamed one final time, the unique shape and color characteristic of a sunstone betraying its name.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Noctowl reacting for the first time, eyes welling with tears, its own sobs drowned within its own feathery breast. I could only wonder what it knew; did its eyes water with tears for the deceased girl, who's face was frozen in an endless sleep? Did it cry with sorrow at the broken boy before it, wrought with terror and misery with no other memories to distract his ailing mind? Or did it perhaps weep for the boy who was burying a stranger with whom he lived beside in his life prior?

I looked down upon the other gift from Lawrence "When I do-I'll come back and tell you. Then I'll carve your name and your eulogy into this." I waved the dark and ornate piece of wood about, as I suppressed another sob, this one meant for her. "Until then just stay here and wait. When I come back, then you can finally rest."

I began to bury her, her young face permanently etched into my mind. I sobbed freely with every grain of dirt I sprinkled over her coffin and still I buried her. Noctowl still watched, tears dripping from its own eyes now, and despite its presence I was still alone. I was alone but I would survive. I would survive because this girl couldn't, and I could not allow life so rarely given to be wasted.

The armies of hell could try and wrest life from me, but they already have. I escaped that battle, from Goldenrod, where countless others didn't. It was obvious that the sun was setting for the world, and the moon was new and dark, both literally and figuratively.

But amidst the unforgiving night, the man that took the name Crescent, was waxing.


	4. Chapter 4: Aftermath- Part 2

**The update is very late, sorry for that, but you don't need to hear my excuses. I am trying to implement a new writing schedule though, so there shouldn't be anymore three month waits for the seven of you following this story.**

* * *

I don't feel like talking much right now.

* * *

AUGUST 19th

My eyes snapped open, fire in my spine and electricity in my legs, sending me upright in an instant, driven by a feeling somewhere between fear and shock. I looked around frantically, and relaxed calmed slightly, but only slightly- only slightly. The area held no immediate discernible danger, but was alien beyond belief.

Wooden logs piled on all sides of me, a decent sized room for any log cabin. But despite the lack of exposure to the elements, hail hung in midair, and fire- a small flash of head- held suspended and frozen in the air.

As I saw the hail above my head I rose my hands to cover my head, bracing for the moments the sharp clear ice crashed towards my skin. After several tense seconds, I lowered my arms and re-evaluated, confusion passing through my mind.

'Time is... nonexistent' I realized, as the crystals defied gravity, the flash of light was contented and did not spread or expand. I rose unsteadily to my feet, not constrained by the law of time in this particular instant. I ran my fingers through the air and grabbed on of the pieces through the hail, grabbing a small piece out of the air and pressing it between my fingers.

'It's not cold. And sharp- glass, not ice.' I decided, letting go of it, allowing it to hang suspended in the air. I moved next to the small flash and ran my hand near it, testing to see if it was as it seemed, and recoiled from the heat 'But the fire is fire. Definitely fire.'

I turned around and walked back the way I came, intent on investigating a piece of furniture, a dresser, careful to duck around the glass I made my way across the room. A faint and shrill buzzing cut through the timeless silence, seizing my attention. I turned slowly following the direction of the noise to a single broken window.

One cautious step forward, then a second, followed by a third as I moved through the alien world.

* * *

"Hey wake up" Jenny's voice urged "We need to get ready to go."

My eyes slowly creaked open at the officer's prompting, finding myself in the same room I had found with Lawrence and Jenny the day before. I rose slowly to my feet and stretched my back, throwing my arms in the air as I yawned before tiredly shutting my mouth and looking at the clock on the wall "People usually don't get up until the hour hand is on the OTHER side of the clock, why are we up so early?"

Jenny dismissed my tired complaint "Lawrence said he wanted to go by dawn, and we don't even know where we're going yet, we need to get everything together and decide which way to go." Jenny explained "But we found coffee, if you're tired from staying out too late last night."

"Was I?" I asked "I don't really remember much of what happened last night. Last thing I remember from last night was finishing up what I was doing. And coffee? What kind of water treatment plant has coffee?"

"Apparently this one, Lawrence found it in desk drawer, he seems to be good at sniffing the stuff out".

"Alright, where's Lawrence?"

"He's in the next room over, trying to look over a map in order to figure out our options. I think he'd want to know that you're awake now, so we can start discussing soon." Jenny paused for a moment, trying to find words to continue "What Lawrence said yesterday. About your memory, is it true?"

"I don't see why he would lie about it, but it is. I can't remember what happened before a couple days ago" I said.

Jenny winced at my frankness "What about that girl you buried though? Did you remember her?"

I stood absolutely still, but inside I pandemonium, first confusion- after all, why did I bring her? When the memories came back into conscious thought I became afflicted with an intense storm of emotions and conflicting of reactions, and rage came out on top- senseless, brutal rage, self-justified rage.

And as quickly and abruptly as it appeared, it was gone.

I steadied myself as I prepared my answer 'Sometimes a half truth can answer a question better than a whole truth' I reasoned 'Besides, I'm not broken piece of china, I will not let people think as much. Also, given Lawrence's reaction its best not to do anything to cause more trauma.'

"She was the first thing I saw when I woke up, and I hadn't noticed what had happened to her yet. Something was coming, so I grabbed her and ran."

"And after you realized?"

"You know what they say about a job half finished."

Jenny's eyes softened slightly, her brief interrogation ending "I'm sorry that you had to go through that"

'You have no idea' "Its not your fault, not really anyone's fault. Just a classic case of 'wrong place, wrong time'" I feigned nonchalance, exaggerating with a shrug of my shoulders at the end "Any ways, you said Lawrence needed to discuss something, was it our destination?"

Jenny gave a quick shake of her head "No, he has something different in mind for you and I while he figures out what we should do. I think he'll want to explain it himself, he's in the next room over on the right."

"Alright, thanks" I said, already moving for the door and giving Jenny a curt nod as I exited the room.

The hallway was just as I remembered it, except that Magnezone was now patrolling it with vigilance. I patted it on the head twice as I attempted to circumvent it in the narrow hallway, to which it gave a monotonous 'bzzzzzzzt' and resumed its duty.

The room in which Lawrence was in was similar to the first, but more bare. It was smaller, and almost entirely empty except for a clock, a set of shelves, and the chair and desk Lawrence sat at, meticulously scrutinizing the complex paper that turned roads into lines and cities into small black ink drops. The paper appeared to have been written on, several scratches of lead stretched across its surface.

As I entered, Lawrence turned his attention towards the door "Mornin' kid, looks lie you're starting your day bright and early eh? Well, maybe a bit less bright than early." Laweremce chuckled at his joke while I stood there, apathetic. Lawrence gestured to a corner of the room where a shelve on one wall met another "Yeah, guess its not so funny when you're tired, there's the coffee maker, and here" he said reaching in a desk drawer and pulling out a cup and handing it to me.

I nodded in thanks and walked over to the coffee pitcher and began pouring myself a cup "So Jenny said you had something in mind before we left?"

"Just a little something to help our chances." Lawrence affirmed.

"Alright, do tell"

Lawrence pulled out another map, this one on a much more narrow scale, showing Goldenrod City. "Okay, so we are here" Lawremce said, pointing to a small patch of land bordering the west coast of a peninsula on the region map "Now Goldenrod is a big city, it housed most of the population on this side of the peninsula, so there is a large area in all directions that is almost entirely uninhabited, save for a few farms scattered here and there with maybe a town or two nearby."

"So there won't be many supplies to scavenge, can we make the trip with what we have?"

"Sprinting nonstop while eating almost nothing?" Lawrence responded "Then, we'd starve to death in any direction before we hit a good place to restock."

"So we need to find more supplies nearby to help us make the trip?"

"I was thinking more about decreasing the travel time." Lawrence said.

A light bulb went off in my head "You want to find a car, so we won't have to carry our supplies and that we don't have to wait so long between scavenging."

"No, we need a truck, with all the slopes and hills around here the front and back of a car would be ripped to shreds. We need something with a higher axle to get where we need to go. Once ya get us a truck, we can pack up and get going." Lawrence explained.

"Alright, then where do we get a truck? The city is too dangerous, and we destroyed the sewer entrance, so we couldn't get back in if we wanted to. I don't think the suburbs we passed are safe either, the corphish have probably advanced."

"There's a bunch of farms on the hills around Goldenrod, I don't think the water pokemon will leave the city, so it should be safe."

"Alright, when do we leave?"

Lawrence simply looked to me and gingerly rose to his feet, wincing slightly in pain as he did so, favoring his left leg, a detail that did not go unnoticed "What happened to your leg?" I asked.

Lawrence grimaced "The tentacool I was fighting yesterday got in one good hit. My leg is all bruised and swollen, I think I would only wind up slowing you down."

"Are you sure it didn't manage to sting you?"

Lawrence shrugged "Maybe, it feels a little numb, but I think its just the swelling. If its not, then it just means we only have to worry about numbness, I don't think its gonna get worse any time soon." Lawrence waved off the concern "Point is, you and Jenny are on your own. I can't walk all that long on it, so I'll just stay here and make sure there's nothing we missed, then when you get back we can load up and head out." Lawrence said, bending over and looking into the desk, apparently looking for something.

"Alright then, where do we start?"

"I already told Jenny, she'll tell ya on the way." Lawrence replied only half paying attention "Ah here, something for the road" I extended my arm and caught a small unidentified flying object. I turned it over and inspected the front of it.

"Potato chips, I guess the person running the plant was a bit of a hoarder huh?" I finally raised the cup of coffee to my lips and sipped it cautiously, before scrunching my face.

I haven't been so happy to taste something so bitter since.

* * *

The potato chips were stale as it turned out, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Contrary to my suspicions, a lack of food for the last few days did not manifest itself as constant hunger- that passed after the first few minutes- but when food was available, any sort of food, it was difficult to resist it.

"If you eat those things that fast you'll choke" Jenny reprimanded me, as I happily munched and crunched away at the snack food on the road back towards the city. The walk was mostly silent, there was no fear or nervous energy, but neither was there anything to be said. The truth for me and Jenny had already sunk in, even though I'm not sure we knew it ourselves at the time. There was no "what if that", "when will this happen", or "why is this happening", there was just the task at hand.

As per Jenny's warning, and with a twinge of self conscience embarrassment I slowed down considerably, no longer grabbing handfuls of the thin pieces and slowly pushing them into my mouth, instead taking smaller, individual pieces. "Better" Jenny praised, before reaching into her small daypack and pulling out a canteen filled with the water from the plant "Eat slowly and drink this as you eat, it will make the chips expand in your stomach."

I accepted the water gratefully and did as she advised, eating a small handful and the complimenting the salty snack with a swig of water. "So" I asked between mouthfuls "any idea idea where to start looking?"

"West of where the sewers ended, Lawrence thinks there's some farms up there that we might be able to get a truck from." Jenny responded.

"And what do you think?"

Jenny bit her lip and looked down towards the path we were walking on "I think that if its as safe as Lawrence thinks it is, we'll have a hard time explaining to old farmers why we need to steal their truck."

This gave me pause. In the world where I was born in, I had only met three human beings, and one of them was dead at the time. It was easy to forget that other people exist, possible many other people still exist, when I had so little contact with them "You think that there might still be people in the area who are alive?"

"I think that its not as safe as Lawrence thinks it is" Jenny deadpanned, and when I looked at her strangely she explained "I don't think you remember this, but when all the Pokemon went crazy, its wasn't just water types."

"Yes, Lawrence said that his Pokemon passed out from it, including Magnezone."

"Yeah, well, I saw some other Pokemon attacking people yesterday, non-water types. And we are in the middle of the forest, filled to the brim with Pokemon. I'm surprised we haven't run into any trouble yet."

My hand brushed against my waist unconsciously, looking for what was there for reassurance.

The handgun felt unnatural to carry- and the circumstances how we gained it back in the sewers were no less odd- though I couldn't deny that it did somehow fit comfortably into my hand, that my wrist seemed to be accustomed to the weight, or that there was a something automatic and natural as my thumb wrapped around the grip, as my finger lined itself perpendicular to the trigger, ready to snap into place and protect myself with lethal force with the twitch of a finger.

So carrying the gun was reassuring and unsettling.

"Hang on to that, you may need it" Jenny said, seemingly reading my mind.

"I don't know why Lawrence gave me this" I said "I don't remember using a gun a day in my life"

"And Lawrence specifically remembers not using a gun a day in his life, you might have some muscle memory going for you, and you're the one who's in the middle of the woods looking for a car, not him."

We had been fortunate that Jenny still had everything she packed from the trip, including her pistol and seven extra seventeen round magazines. The 9mm bullets managed to fit nicely into the pistol that Lawrence found, fitting ten rounds in the single magazine, plus one in the chamber with Jenny's assistance.

"An- hold up" I said, a small mound of odd, damp soil catching my eye. Jenny stood still as I walked over to it, crouching over it to inspect it. I ran it between my fingers, feeling its odd small grains run between my fingers. "I think its ash, from yesterday, before it rained. It probably came from up the hill and the rain carried it down here."

Jenny walked over now and inspected it as well "I'm not sure, its hard to tell. I think we should go up the hill to investigate."

I pondered this, turning the idea over in my head several times "What do you think is up there?"

"I wouldn't know, but if it was a house that got burned down yesterday then there might be a truck there that's still in working condition."

"The fire had to come from somewhere" I rebutted "or something. It might still be hanging around there".

"Fire types are pretty rare, I think, and most wild pokemon don't learn fire moves without effort." Jenny assured me "If something did cause it, its probably gone by now, driven off by the rain. Just in case though, we should be quiet, no need for unnecessary risk."

I looked at the hill, steep, but not impossibly so, relatively thinly wooded, with little brush and fewer (but still many) trees. "Well" I said, "lets get going then." I head Jenny make a noise behind me, the sound of a pistol being removed from a holster specifically, and took it as a cue to pull out my own, aiming it in front of me and towards the ground, the thumb safety rendering it inert, but my thumb in a position to give it back its firing potential, if I needed it.

* * *

We stood at the aftermath of something great and terrible, Jenny and I. The summit of the hill was wreathed in ash where fire had run rampant- entire woods reduced to charcoal, a ring of darkness around the earth that the hill we stood on, and crowned with the corpses of morbidly butchered pokemon.

Medium sized pink lumps of flesh frequented the hilltop- their limbs either burned and torn asunder like a petulant child would a small doll, or others stood more intact, but decayed beyond reason and identification, at a rate that surpassed the abilities of nature.

These however, were second most common to the chunks of chitin, often scorched beyond recognition or present only in small pieces. Others were easier to identify, intact, but rendered two dimensional in a manner that was no less painful or horrific than the others.

Craters were both apparent and plentiful in the cliff, large pores empty of earth surrounded by scorch marks and scattered rubble.

Buildings were also present on the far side of the hilltop, or rather, the rubble that I believe to have once composed buildings. Red shingles that once lined rooftops, white boards that formed walls for the safety of the occupant. One particular building almost appeared as through something had scooped under it and lifted it out of the ground.

I holstered my weapon immediately, my hand going limp at my side. I walked up to one of the pink lumps on the ground, one of the less warped ones, and kicked it over gently "Miltank" I noted "This was a dairy once, I think there should be a truck here".

Jenny was more affected by the shell of a ranch, you could almost feel the waves of sorrow and terror crashing against her through her solemn silence.

I waited several seconds for Jenny to give input before deciding to take initiative with the shell-shocked officer "Lets head over to one of those buildings. The rancher probably had a vehicle to use, and if it could go up and down this hill it should work fine for us."

"What happened here...?" Jenny said softly to no one in particular, starting to come out of her shock.

"Well" I said bending over and picking up on of the pieces of chitin, this one apparently a scyther arm "As far as I can tell, it isn't as safe as Lawrence thought. If I had to guess, I'd say bugs came out of the woods, started attacking the buildings over there. I figure the people in it didn't take to kindly to it, and sent out their own pokemon to retaliate. Then the miltank got involved, and it all went downhill from there." I tapped the edge of the appendage against my finger, checking its sharpness, before shrugging it and putting it in my tool belt. Then I turned back to Jenny and said as callously as I could "Come on, focus, we have a job to do".

The last line did the trick, as her eyes focused suddenly and she seemed to steady herself "Better?" I asked "Jenny nodded slowly but surely "good, lets do what we have to do and get back to Lawrence."

The approach only took a couple minutes, but when feet are measured in corpses as surely as they are in footsteps time drags on. Despite my outward nonchalance uncertainty and anxiety still twisted in my gut like an ethereal knife. Every second served to add to my unease, though I consciously prevented my hand from reaching for the weapon on my hip for reassurance, I instead examined each of the buildings, this time each one within a hundred feet.

There were three buildings in total, a house, a shed, and what appeared to be a warehouse. The house and the warehouse both boasted similar architecture, simple and to the point, with maroon shingles and white wooden boards, though the warehouse also had a cobble border along its base, and a fence was built into the side of it, stretching a large area of pasture. The shack on the other side of the fence, in the pasture, was even simpler in design- yellowish cream planks for walls, a brown shingled roof, and a large, chocolate colored garage door.

At least, that's what I assumed from the pieces of debris flung around the vicinity. The house was almost entirely rubble and ash, leaving debris scattered where it once stood. The shack had been completely shattered, holes the size of an oven were punched into the sides of the small building, and the structure had almost entirely collapsed under its own weight.

The warehouse like structure caught my eye thought. It was also unique, holes of many different sizes checkered its walls and roof, and the building seemed to sag inward- the peaked ceiling rounding out, and the walls seemed to lean inward. The entire structure was flattened, so it couldn't have been much taller than I, but otherwise it appeared reasonably unharmed.

What caught my eye however, was the intact garage door on the warehouse. Like the rest of the building, the garage roof was at most six feet tall, but in one spot the roof seemed to slope inward intensely, only to halt about five and a half feet above the ground, as if supported by some unseen pillar.

I drove the scyther arm under the garage door, using it as a lever to prop it open. The door slid about halfway open, rising up to my hip before coming to a jarring stop, at which a rough and shrill screeching of metal on metal gave me a clear warning of what was about to happen next.

Within the next moment the garage door and the ceiling it is attached to gives way, collapsing and falling onto me with a heavy; clang; and my body turned into a fireworks display of pain and aching _'I should have seen that coming'_ I scolded myself, as I clumsily shove some wooden boards off me.

Jenny is over quickly and helps lift the metal sheet off of me, grunting and then turning towards me in concern "Do you think you can still walk?"

I moved my legs and arms experimentally, before propping myself up and pushing myself to my feet "I think I'm fine, just a bit bruised." I shook my head in irritation as I struggled to rise to my feet as something caught my eye and I began laughing "But look at what we found!"

The truck was red and obviously well used, humble but hardy. A simple three seat cabin with a large bed of the truck, suspended on a set of sturdy tires high above the ground. It would do nicely.

I pushed myself to my feet and dusted myself off as Jenny approached the truck and pulled the door handle, swinging the door open "Unlocked, maybe they left the keys in here" Jenny said, shuffling through the vehicle and checking under the seats, presumably looking for them.

That feeling was back, that nasty itch that pleaded to be scratched, loudly. My nerves said something was off, yelled that something was off in a cascading crash of panic. It wasn't just the aftermath; something made those craters were certainly disconcerting- especially the massive one in the center of the hill- and the corpses of the pokemon certainly were foreboding, even if they did attempt to kill humans, though I had my doubts.

There weren't any human bodies, none. There weren't even any bodies of pokemon that were capable of using creating fires. Houndoom came to mind, they often roamed the countryside, but why would they ever draw so close to a city?

The feeling intensified suddenly and I attempted to push it off by bouncing slightly on my feet, and rotating my shoulders, to no avail. "I'm going to have a look around" I excused myself "Do you want me to leave you one of my pokeballs just in case?"

"Don't worry about it, I brought Manectiric. I'll send him out as soon a I'm done looking under this seat" Jenny replied, and a small part of my mind registered I had no clue what a Manectric was, but I dismissed it as simply a pokemon native to Hoenn. Thinking about it, I hadn't been able to identify Lawrence's pokemon either, and they were from Sinnoh, but I identified the miltank and scizor remains easily. Given all this, I was likely a Johto native, or at least, very nearly one.

I scoffed at myself, the initial excitement wearing off as I realized how obvious it was. Lawrence would have said something if my accent was odd, as he did with Jenny, and my pockets were almost empty back in the sewers. If I was traveling I would have brought a wallet and a passport.

Then I scolded myself for getting so distracted by something so menial.

"Well hurry up and send it out then, half of these bodies look like they could stand up and kill us before we'd be any the wiser. I'm not going anywhere with your eyes shoved under a chair." I said.

Jenny gave something halfway between a grunt and a sigh, and without even pausing from her search (she instead checks a small compartment under the steering wheel) reaches for her wasted and fumbles with the pokeballs at her belt, selecting one by touch, and then sending it out.

The ball's occupant stood at attention, as if it was a soldier receiving orders. It was an odd creature, dog-like, but with a sharper snout than most of the wild dogs of Johto, and much lower to the ground. Its fur contrasted with itself, an electric blue adorning most of it body finding and unlikely partner in the electric yellow crowning its head and tail.

"Manectric, stand guard." Jenny ordered the dog gave a guttural bark in response "Remember, these attacks are real. Only fight if you intend to kill, and remember anything you intend to fight will do the same to you."

The dog turned its sharp gaze on me an I felt as though the temperature of the air fell several degrees. I cringed slightly at its harsh gaze before regaining my composure "Well, it looks like you'll be fine, holler if you find something" I excused myself, and then turned and walked away slowly, exhaling in relief as I broke eye contact with the small hound. I walked for several more paces before finally wondering _'Where to?'._

* * *

I scanned the hilltop intensely, my eyes flitting towards the remains of Goldenrod and lingering for a moment before I turned back towards the hilltop 'All there is to see up here is death. The houses are almost entirely collapsed in on themselves. That just leaves...' my eyes turned on the forest surrounding the hill 'We already saw the far side on our way up, no point in heading back that way. Maybe I can check the area around the house, it might have something interesting.'

I circumvented the house and entered the treeline, walking carefully perpendicular to the slope of the hill. I traveled as quickly as I could through the woods, having no desire to stay in a place where anything could hide in any corner, and where corners were plentiful. I walked about for five minutes before I stumbled upon an oddity.

I didn't no exactly what it was, it was large and white and its shape could only be described as a long lump. I cautiously grabbed a short stick from the ground and poked it cautiously, noting the firm resistance the lump gave as well as the sticky consistency of the material that composed it.

 _'What is this?'_ I wondered, before reaching for the scyther arm that I had at my belt and decided to bring it down upon the object of interest. The scyther arm made contact, only to stop suddenly upon meeting the object. I pulled on the arm harshly but it remained stagnant until I twisted it, prying the organic blade from the unknown material.

My curiosity was not yet sated, and I brought down the arm again onto the object, this time it embedded itself deep into the object, with so much ease it caught me off guard. I attempted to bring it up again, this time tearing a chunk of the material off 'Its a polymer, like my jacket, but its not well mixed, there's the incredibly hard fibers and the softer more sticky ones'. I tried again with similar results, and peered into the small hole I made.

I sat there for a moment, just staring at what I had unearthed from the Ariados webs. Then I reached for the handgun at my side for extra protection and exited the forest.

* * *

When I emerged from the forest Jenny was in the truck, slowly driving it across the hill, slowly turning it around the numerous craters in the hilltop. Manectric sat diligently in the back, keeping watch in the treeline, and gave a bark as I emerged, opting Jenny to look back towards me.

I jogged across the field, not wanting to spend much more time in the area after what I had found, narrowly weaving around each hole. As I crossed the field I paused a moment, a familiar smell filling the air I occupied.

I sniffed the air again, following the scent until I came upon a significantly larger crater, this one dwarfing all the others, and also surrounded by black scorch marks. I slid down the hole and met the bottom in a crouch. I closed my eyes and prompted my memory to identify the smell.

 _'The air smelled of ozone as Magnezone fired into the water'_

 _'The street was pungent with the smell of rotting flesh and a softer, more subtle smell of ozone'_

 _'_ _"The burns and the death you told me are consistent with electric shock." '_

I sensed a presence behind me, just at the moment I required it "How long were you in the sewers Jenny?" I asked, my back turned, crouched and deep and thought.

A momentary pause followed, before I heard her say "Almost right after I arrived. So a few hours after everything started."

"I see" I said "You fled down into the sewers during the attack" I could practically feel Jenny tense and prepare to retaliate "After you saw there was nothing you could do of course. Its not criticism, just an observation."

"Yes, any hope of a sustained defense fell apart immediately, the battle was over by the time my feet were on the ground" Jenny half growled, obviously not completely forgiving my insinuation.

"So you were still in an airplane when everything started then. You saw what you were flying into, why not fly past? What could possible motivate you to jump into that death trap? Lightning, no doubt, but from what?"

"Stop beating around the bush" Jenny growled "I know perfectly well what you're asking, and I'd tell you if you stopped wasting time and said it."

"What was it that caused this?"

Another pregnant pause "I'm not sure" Jenny sighed "It almost knocked the plane out of the sky thought. It was large, catlike, yellow. We never got close enough to distinguish. It was on top of the radio tower I think, and I might have seen some purple, and maybe some black stripes."

 _'Their final moment was frozen, and they held what had once been what I could only assume were cellphones. They would not say farewell to the ones they loved, for their arms were outstretched to take pictures, their death was spent in awe, not fear.'_

 _'Raikou. The Thundercat'_ My mind supplied, putting my memories to rest.

The moment of reprieve was so brief that it may as well had not existed in the first place. My hands clenched at my side and I rose to my feet as if I believed that the mere act was defying the cat-god, striking him. My mind roared furiously in disbelief.

 _'Raikou, the legendary pokemon! It hides in the darkest corners of the Earth for hundreds of years, until we think it is but a legend. And the first time we learn of its existence, it strikes at us without provocation!'_

 _'It was the tip of the spear, it was the reason this happened! There is no chance that it just happened to be in the area at the time of this, and that something so ancient would take part without reason. It was an intentional attack!"_

 _'Raikou, I don't know if you started all this or were just another arm of attack, but I will finish it!'_

 _'I don't know what I lost, but you will pay dearly for every last thing you took from me!'_


	5. Chapter 5: Into the Woods

**I've actually had this chapter for a while now, I was just editing it and I forgot to put it out there before the great college application scramble of 2015. The good news is that I just mailed out the last of my many applications, so come February I should be able to pump out chapter tri or biweekly.**

 **NobodiesHiiro : I'm glad you liked it, I really wanted to make a tie in with another story in Johto, and I may even reference your own at some point soon. I almost think its a shame that we seem to work mostly independently even though our writing takes place in the same universe, sometimes even the same continent.**

 **Zarrelion: Thanks for the praise, its good to know I'm on the right track. As for the one error, eh, I guess I just can't catch them all while proofreading.**

 **Oh, on the off chance that you don't follow NobodiesHiiro, I believe he is posting a new chapter soon. He was willing to share it with me before releasing it, and it was very good, actually gave me chills. So if you aren't reading his story "Poké Wars: A Hard Road To Follow" you should go check it out, its been exploring a unique aspect of the undampening I never considered.**

* * *

I was angry for a time after that- any hopes of recovering from my traumatic experience were dashed by knowledge. It was one thing to be the victim of nature, one did not stand up to or blame it for its tendency to conjure destruction on a whim. But when your loss was the intentional work of another being that could be understood and was mortal, rage and loathing could disguise themselves as righteousness and justice- and even the most patient souls could go rotten with such a vendetta.

I was no patient soul, perhaps I could have been once, maybe even a kind soul, but I was to become the reflection of the world I was thrust into. I was every ugly hateful thing that humanity could find within itself, and then I was pointed towards something worse than myself and given an excuse. I'm not sure if I needed one, but I had one.

Even so, memories of the streets of Goldenrod haunted me, and self preservation pleaded me to abandon the idea for the time being. Despite all my righteous anger I was afraid of what would become of me, and it chilled me. Because my fear was colder than my anger was hot I could use them both, but I was unable to bring myself to use either. I had the mind of a rabbit, I just wanted to run.

But the reason that I could not use my cold fury was because above even Raikou I was uncertain how to use it. I had barely survived Raikou once, and I didn't have the privilege of knowing how I did it. If Raikou could throw lightning into the streets and cause all the death I had seen, what could one boy with a knife and a vendetta do?

Yes, life was cruel like that, though Jenny and Lawrence had yet to see how cruel the world had become, as I shielded them from the very ugly truth that only I wished to see. Apart from the girl neither had even yet to see a human corpse, I never told either of them about what I found in the woods either.

But I saw it all, slowly. Discovering new ruins of what was once a thriving civilization and the skeletons of what could have been loving homes was like running a race against time- where time had a head start. And that was what fought against us constantly; time. Whenever we stumbled across a dead body I wondered if- perhaps if I were only a little faster- we could have reached it before it died and it would be able to still draw breath. Rationality always assured me otherwise, but hopelessness would rebut it without fail.

After all, I was just a boy with a knife and a vendetta.

Sheltered though they were, Lawrence and Jenny kept me sane. Lawrence's joking demeanor and Jenny's authoritative air kept me from straying to far. That is why we cannot lose this sick game with our enemies. This little system of caring and protecting cannot be duplicated by the feral pokemon that hunt us.

If they aren't family, I don't know what is. And if Crescent has to fight to protect his family, he will fight- and if he has to run and hide, he'll do just that.

After all, what else can a boy with a knife do?

AUGUST 21st

I was laying against the tree on the hill I had been on the day before, where I had buried the girl from the street, the soft grass beneath me damp- but where the dampness of the street made the hard asphalt cold and uninviting, the dew on each blade of grass left a smell that made me feel slightly warm and fuzzy, all while my jacket isolated my from the cold wetness.

It was just after dawn, and the hill faced the sun perfectly, its height just enough to allow for one to see the sun above the tree line, and in turn the sun was just high enough to cast light upon the hill, the light meeting the dew like there was a diamond to every tip of grass.

I could have rested in that instant for eternity, and I had resolved myself to do so, at least until something else demanded my attention. Something about the hill soothed and brought about a calm that I was unfamiliar with. Where I could only recall rage, a new feeling, almost akin to bliss had set in. I thought that if this was the only peaceful moment I was guaranteed for the coming journey, I would at least immerse myself in it.

But as I knew all to well, peace was easily shattered, and afterward not so easily mended.

"Where am I?"

The words caught me off guard, for I had thought myself alone. The voice that carried them was both confused and unknown to me- and yet so terribly familiar I felt the urge to tear my hair out. I turned about quickly and faced the source.

The urge to scream grew struck as a bolt of shocked recognition passed through my mind at the sight of the person who had captured my attention. My first reaction was to scramble away, create distance between me and my source shock, and I was to surprised to overcome it. Sound rose involuntarily to my throat- no doubt a startled curse- but was interrupted when my foot caught on a root of the tree I was resting against, sending me on a brief and quick trip down the hill.

"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" The person yelped in genuine concern, scrambling down the slope to help me. I sat there only dumbfounded, for a moment, before my mind clicked and I understood what was happening. _'Only my dreams would go to such great lengths to torment me.'_ I thought darkly _'To use the dead against me, is nothing sacred? Can they not have rest in death as I cannot in sleep?'_

The girl was at my side, her foggy eyes somehow filled to the brim with concern as she grabbed me and tried to help me up "Sorry if I surprised you, I'm just a little lost, and I was hoping you could tell me where we are."

 _'And however so polite she is.'_ I thought with scorn _'My subconscious has a funny way of romanticizing death'._

Perhaps I was willing to play along, or maybe I was simply too guilty to show the malice in my heart; regardless I kept such thoughts to myself, and attempted to keep my face neutral, apparently failing in part when again she expressed concern "Really, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

The irony was not lost on me, on the contrary it almost drove me mad. What was my subconscious playing at? Was it attempting to make me more guilty? Make me see exactly what I might have failed to protect? I would not stand by as my dream disrespected the deceased and punished me for shortcomings I was not sure I had!

"I have"

My voice was cold and sharp, powerful and concentrated on a single point. With surgical precision I struck at the focal point of the nightmare. It felt good to finally have some control, even if it was only in my dreams, and even then only how I responded to them. And the words I spoke were true, and they were words I had wanted to say for a long time- ever since the city I escaped from began to haunt me- which was nearly as long as I could remember.

But most of all, I regretted them immediately.

Her face wore an expression of confusion for a moment as my words sunk in, before realization sunk in. "Oh, I get it. You were visiting that grave on top of the hill right? Sorry for bothering you, I just don't know where I am or how I got here. Come to think of I don't remember much of anything...?" She said, confusion beginning to reassert itself, before gasping in pain and clutching her head, eyes tightly closed in discomfort and frustration.

For a moment it seemed so vivid I forgot it was a dream and nearly moved to help her, before her eyes shot open- brilliant and blue, no longer misty as they should have been "That's right! Y-"

* * *

The back side of my body hit the ground with a crack. The suddenness of the impact sent me upwards with a jolt as I rubbed my sore spine.

My head felt murky when I first regained coherency, only vaguely beginning to recall what had happened while my mind was occupied with angry, incoherent words. Regardless of how hard I tried to recall the events of the day prior, I was met with only a blur, only remembering a deep and terrifying rage I was unfamiliar with.

I was in the bed of a truck, our truck, with Lawrence sitting in the passenger seat to be gentle with his swollen leg with Jenny driving us, thankfully I recalled this much at least-though not how I got there- otherwise I would have found myself very confused and more than a little surprised. We seemed to be deep in the woods, judging that the road behind us was surrounded on both sides by trees, and the path was one of dirt.

I turned thoughts back to the nightmare I had had. First was the scenery, why would it take place in a place that was so peaceful? While my experience on the hill had been sorrowful, but the place was neutral to me at worst- like the safe room in the sewers. The streets would have served to torment me better than that place, so why there?

And the girl! How dare my subconscious attempt to create such a perversion of a human soul! The dead were dead, why resurrect them within the confines of my mind to remind me what I might have lost? Why couldn't I just let myself forget and move on?

And how dare she- no, it, I reminded myself, for it was only a mental construction- be so kind?

 _'No, there must have been something else to the dream, but I was awoken before it could occur. The hill was probably used just to catch me off guard. There were only two paths for the dream to continue- and both led to pain. I chose neither; I refuse to watch my mind kill her over again and I refuse to wait around and let it frame me for her death._ ' I told myself, even as a tiny voice in my head said that it was unlikely that it- no, she, for if nothing else she was the adaptation of a memory, and I would be doing that memory a disservice by dehumanizing it- didn't intend anything of the sort.

The two bickered insistently, back and forward before I let out a sigh- either of frustration or exasperation, though which I was not sure- and pulled out a pokeball, running my hands over its smooth, homogenous surface as I resolved myself to not think about it, and instead knocked on the back window of the truck, vying for the attention of my companions.

I waited for several seconds before frowning from the lack of reaction. I knocked on the glass again.

This time Jenny moved, saying something I couldn't here through the glass nor over the noise of tires on dirt. Lawrence seemed to stir slightly from whatever she said, and she said something else, loud enough that I could hear a mumble through the glass window.

Lawrence jumped in his seat as if startled, then he stretched his arms out lazily as if he were just waking up, then his window rolled down and he poked his head out and looked at me with a drowsy stare "Hey, you need something kid?"

"Just wondering what our situation is looking like."

"Give me a minute" Lawrence said, before dragging his head back in the car and asking Jenny something I couldn't make out over the side of the road. Lawrence reemerged a minute later, an apple in hand "Jenny said we're probably going to stop soon, there's supposed to be somewhere up ahead where we can stop and try to restock. We'll tell you there, okay?"

I gave a nod and Lawrence retracted his head, leaving me nothing to do but sit idly by and eat the small snack he had given me.

* * *

True to his Lawarence's word, we came to a stop not long after, turning to the right off the main road and parking near a humble but decent log cabin in the middle of the woods. Jenny got out immediately, walking over to what I could only call a garage without walls- merely four metal poled suspending a large metal sheet above a car and various practical items- and leaving me and Lawrence alone.

"Okay then, guess she's gonna do whatever she's gonna do, so may as well bring you up to speed here" Lawrence told me, limping over, seemingly putting more weight on his bad leg then the day before, a sign of healing.

I nodded in response, prompting him to continue over and place down a map on the truck gate. Tracing his finger over various small roads and dots as he spoke "We're right here" he said, pointing at a small star that was labeled 'National Park' to the north of Goldenrod, lying at the mouth of the peninsula the city was on. "I think we've been making good time, having only been on the road for half a day and part of a night, at this rate we should get to Ekreuteake city in about... lets say two more days."

His explanation left me with as many questions as answers, we must have discussed it yesterday but for the life of me I couldn't seem to remember it. "I still do not quite understand quite why we chose Ecruteak." I mumbled, trying to sound more disgruntled then clueless..

"Ekreuteake is a large city in the mountains with a fairly strong Pokemon league presence. According to Jenny they also have a damn good police force- her cousin works there you see- and its supposed to have national guard bases scattered around it, because its just about in the center of Johto- and very far inland, as you demanded so insistently."

I nodded again in understanding, the destination seeming sufficient with our collective, and very limited knowledge "So why are we stopped?"

"No real big reason, just taking the chance to restock. There's not much civilization around here, but since the main road was busted, and its on the coast, we don't have much of a choice but to take the scenic route." Lawrence replied.

I nodded again blankly, his statement affirming what I had already suspected, though I was slightly confused as to how a road became 'busted'.

Lawrence cleared his throat "Anyways, there's not much for you to do out here, I'm gonna try to find some gas out here to fill this old girl up" Lawrence declared, hitting the side of the truck with his hand for emphasis "I think Jenny went inside the cabin, I think you should go and search it too." Lawrence said, before turning on his heels and walking away with only a slightly discernible limp. I sat there pondering everything for a moment before I came to a realization.

"Hey! Lawrence! You don't know what's out here, send out a pokemon to keep watch for you okay?" I requested.

Lawrence didn't even stop walking as he waved his arm in dismissal "I already did!" I looked around for the pokemon that he sent out, and finding nothing, I scowled. Such flippant and overconfident behavior was bound to get him killed.

I sighed and walked into the log cabin, walking through the open door and into the surprisingly roomy living room, furnished simply and without much in the way of modern household items- no TV or the likes. Still, a comfortable recliner lay in the middle of the room, sunshine raining down upon it from a narrow set of windows just below the ceiling, with an end table holding what appeared to be a radio and a lamp. On the adjacent wall a bookcase gloated a large collection of books; primarily memoirs, though nonfiction was present, and several fictional classics were also evident.

A brick fireplace adorned the opposite wall, though small pipes running along the wall revealed it to be a gas fireplace. Below it a pair of leather boots sat where cold toes went to warm, and above it its mantle was adorned with pictures depicting a happy elderly couple, along with others- presumably brothers and sisters and friends and sons and daughters and grandchildren.

I walked over to the mantle and picked up one picture in particular, this one capturing a moment with younger children that I recognized from other pictures, as the young boy- no older than twelve- posed holding a large dead stantler by the horns with a gun slung over his shoulder. The elderly couple were also there, smiling in pride of the young boy. I put the photo down, unsure of what to think of it and moved onto another picture- this one a photo portrait of the elderly woman, the only picture dedicated to a single person, the rest instead captured events, moments in time.

I put it down, irritated at myself for my lack of focus "Hey Jenny, I'm going to go check out some rooms, anyplace in particular I should start?" I called out.

There was a brief pause, then Jenny's called out from down the hall "Start at the room at the end of the hall and work your way back, I'm in the first door on the left."

I looked down the hallway in question and started to walk to the end "On it".

I approached the door at the end and tried to turn the handle, to no avail as the door refused to open. I shook the doorknob violently, then rose my foot to kick it open, before thinking better of it "Hey, anyone in there?" I asked. Several seconds passed without response, so I rose my foot again and brought it crashing against the door.

Splinters erupted from the lock as the wood shattered violently, the door swinging wide and far into the wall, before swinging back, half closed. I eased it back open slightly and walked through into what appeared to be a bedroom- one wall sporting a simple bed with a small nightstand at its side and a chest at its foot. On the opposite side a long dresser with pictures and other various assorted trinkets.

I started with the dresser, going through the drawers and finding only clothes, regardless I grabbed some of the thicker shirts and pants, and several pairs of socks.

The chest was somewhat more bountiful; a large empty but sturdy travelpack, a large but stubby looking gun laid next to it, and a box of large cartridges. I lifted the weapon out of the box and examined it, making note of how wide the barrel was compared to its length (which while not ridiculously short, was still shorter than a one would usually attribute to a weapon as large and unwieldy as this one), the unusual weight for a handgun, and the wear and tear of the well-used stock.

I stuck the unusual weapon in my belt and knelt back down to the chest, picking up the box of cartridges and examining them. I slid the box open and was greeted by a near full box of shotgun shells, twelve of the fifteen spaces saved for the rounds were occupied by the large red shells.

 _"Don't you think this place looks familiar?"_

The voice came from out for nowhere as I slid the box shut and placed it in the travel bag, causing me to jump up and look around for a moment, scanning my surroundings for the source of the question, only to find unoccupied space. I shook my head in confusion and reached down and slung the backpack over my shoulder and walked around the bed.

 _"Hey! Didn't you hear me?"_

 _'I'm loosing my mind'_ I sighed tiredly _'Maybe its just the stress, the voice will probably go away if I ignore it'_

So embroiled in my concerns and frustration I was that I didn't realize what lay in front of me as I approached the nightstand until my foot landed on it. I looked down to search for the uneven surface I stepped on and processed it for a moment.

Curled up in front of the nightstand, between the bed and the window, was the body of an old man- the same one that appeared in the pictures that I saw above the fireplace. His body was badly bruised-as though he were beaten into unconsciousness in the least efficient manner possible- and his midsection ran crimson with the blood of two long gashes along his sides. The blood was mostly dried up, and his skin was sickly gray.

 _'No way this guy is still alive'_ I thought as I reached for his pulse to be certain, and feeling nothing I put it back down, and I began to automatically analyze him.

 _'The bedsheets are on the ground next to him, he must have been attacked in his sleep'_

 _'His eyes are open with shock, he must have not known that pokemon were capable of this yet'_

 _'The long gashes on his sides are too low for an attacker using a dominant ground assailant, the old man looks like he could have bucked his hips and kicked him off. The old man must have been beaten by the time the attacker got around to placing those on him, the assailant probably attacked initially with blunt force, and the old man must have gone into shock during the attack, and it gave the assailant the opportunity to inflict the gashes along the side.'_

 _'The attacker was incredibly inefficient based on the bruised areas. There are small cuts on his arms, so there must have been some weapon involved, and that's not accounting for those wicked gashes. The attacker most likely did this without recent provocation, and wanted to test its strength. It was probably a native pokemon that knew of the old man's abode, and shortly after it gained deadly strength it wanted to see how strong it was, so this must have happened days ago.'_

 _'But why the old man? The thing that did this wasn't weak, and surely a larger foe would be a better test, and it could have gained territory if it succeeded. There doesn't seem to be any reason to target this person. I just don't get it'_

I set the thoughts aside, content with the deduction that the assailant had been here days ago and had likely moved on since, to bigger and grander foes.

 _"I don't know" The voice made itself known again "I think we should get out of here. Now."_

I put the advice aside for the time being, instead pushing the body over so that it lay under the bed and proceeding to advance towards the nightstand. I pulled the top drawer open and sifted through it, finding only an assortment of books and a small notepad. I quietly pushed the drawer closed and moved my hand towards the second one.

 _"Look out! In the window!"_

The voice spoke with such urgency that I hurled myself over the bed away from the window, rolling over the mattress and taking cover behind it. Realizing nothing had happened during my dash to cover, I peeked over the edge of the bed carefully, my hand withdrawing my handgun from my belt, daring something to come through that window and meet nine millimeters of copper. I waited for around a minute, then began to circle around the bed, my gun still trained on the window, and when I approached it I opened it, looking around for potential danger.

I saw nothing, and sighed as I lowered my weapon backing away from the window and sitting on the bed as I recovered from my scare, chastising myself for heeding the warning of a disembodied voice.

Then all hell broke loose.

A loud buzzing vibrated through the room, shattering the glass window, then through it came a mass of muddy colors. The projectile slammed into me, sending me over the edge of the bed and back onto the floor- all while my weapon in the opposite direction, out of sight and reach, and my assailant on top of me.

I wasted no time looking at my opponent, instead striking it with both open palms, and then pulling my legs in and pushing myself away from it. The thing charged again, and I pulled my legs in and kicked outwards, forcing it back again.

The beast hit my legs full on, and was knocked away as I extended them, but a shot of pain up my leg showed it was a costly small victory. My assailant backed off and flew around the room again, buzzing through the air and came in for another pass, myself with only my arms to defend myself from the fatal swoop.

It took me a moment to realize how untrue this statement was 'The gun!' I realized, reaching for my last best hope of survival, and ripping it out more frantically as it came in for the kill. I pulled the trigger as soon as it was in my hand, unable to afford time to aim, hoping and praying that my shot would hit its mark.

And the gun clicked, refusing to fire.

My fate was sealed with that click, recognition flashed through my mind followed by horror. My life ended by an empty chamber. Resignation flashed through my mind as the attacker swooped in, too close for me to raise my arms to push it away.

 _'Sometimes you bet it all and you lose, I suppose'_

 _"No!"_

My eyes opened in shock at the sudden surge of defiance, though unfounded, but opened wider than I thought possible as the mass suddenly shifted to the side and into the wall, as if it had been struck. I sat there dumbfounded for a moment before another thought passed through my mind _'The knife!_ '.

I rolled over onto the now disoriented opponent, pinning it under my body weight and bringing my knife out of my belt and plunging it into the first thing that caught my attention: any orange streak standing out from its muddy-brown body.

My knife not only sunk into it, but tore straight through the thin tissue-wings I realized. The assailant shrieked in pain, and I continued my attack, this time thrusting my knife into the center of the beast's body, eliciting another shriek. I yanked on the knife to prepare for another strike, but my it held fast, stuck within the creatures armor. The creature reversed my pin, flinging me off and scattering the contents of my bag about the floor.

The beast turned back towards me, furious, and lowered two wicked horns towards me and charged. I threw up my legs again, holding it back just before the horns reached me. I flattened my back against the ground and attempted to kick it away again, but couldn't find the strength to do so.

I racked my mind quickly, searching for an alternative solution when I saw a shotgun shell that had rolled under the bed, just within reach. I frantically grabbed for it, inadvertently nudging it away, and then attempted again, successfully grasping the cartridge.

My legs burned as I whipped out the gun, releasing a switch at the base of the barrel, snapping it open and-

A crack followed, followed by two more, and then another two- each one throwing my attacker off of me. I twisted my neck and saw Jenny, standing in the doorway, several scratches along her arms, but otherwise unharmed, and leveling a still-smoking gun at the fallen form. The shape moved slightly, and Jenny's finger struck the trigger three times rapidly in succession, each small click followed by a loud bang, and then a shudder through the body of the beaten beast.

Jenny walked over to it, kicked it over and then fired into it again.

"Damn, what was that?" I asked panting, my body finally noticing the debt of oxygen that it had accumulate.

Jenny glanced towards me for a second and then began scooping up all the items scattered on the floor "It looks like it was a pinsir, you're not wounded, are you?"

"A pinsir?" I asked confused "pinsir can't fly, they don't have wings. You must be mistaken."

Jenny swept her hand across the floor, successfully clearing it of dropped items, then shoved them into the backpack and tossed them to me "Look at it yourself if you don't believe me."

She rushed out the door before I could respond, leaving me to look back at the assailant. Just a solid brown corpse with pale horns and claws- a pinsir.

It fit, really. The claws were small enough that blunt force would be the largest payload of each strike, its horns were about the right size for the wounds on the old man.

 _'But still, it was so fast, and I saw some colors, am I going crazy?'_

I tossed the backpack over one shoulder and made for the door.

 _"Can't say I didn't warn you"_


	6. Chapter 6: Into the Woods- Part 2

Lawrence's situation was less urgent than mine, but just as-if not more- dangerous.

Jenny and I watched from the door as Lawrence backed away slowly, holding a shovel outwards as one would a spear, pointing it threateningly at each of four pinsir as they closed inon him. Two more lay beaten far back from the fight, one singed and the other beaten- presumably by the same bloodied shovel Lawrence held.

Another form, a blue and black one lay next to the two bodies- Lawrence's pokemon, presumably. It had no visible injuries, but it wasn't moving either. Lawrence looked over at it worriedly periodically, but he could seldom turn his attention from each of his four adversaries.

Lawrence glanced to where he always kept his pokeballs on his person frequently, no doubt pondering if he should reach for them. It would take one of his hands off of the shovel, and he would no longer be able to defend himself, and between the four of bug pokemon he wouldn't be able to release a pokemon before he was snapped in half.

He hadn't reached for them yet, so he must have gotten the gist of it.

Jenny held a pokeball in each hand, preparing to throw them at the pinsir, but held still when I touched her her arm.

I held out a single pokeball, and gestured towards Lawrence's fallen pokemon. Jenny nodded in understanding _'One pokemon, behind them'_

I held out three finger, than two, then one.

"Noctowl!" I yelled, tossing the pokeball far behind the pinsir. Jenny seemed surprised by my loud announcement, but still tossed in a pokemon of her own, her manectric.

The pokemon that came out of my pokeball, however, was big and blue and very clearly not noctowl.

 _'A herracross'_ A small kink in my plan, but ultimately of little significance _'As long as he doesn't turn on us'_.

The pinsir turned around quickly in surprise at my shout and faced their two new adversaries, turning their backs on Lawrence.

It was the last mistake they ever made.

Lawrence seized the opportunity, clumsily pressing the buttons on each of his five pokeballs, not bothering to remove them from his person, and five pokemon materialized in front of him-behind the pinsir.

Outnumbered, taken by surprise from our sleight, surrounded and outgunned what happened next should have been a slaughter.

And it was, for the most part. Each of the pokemon on Lawrence's side attacked from the rear, turning one pinsir immediately into ash, and sending the other to the gound in violent spasms. On our end, my heracross flew around the attacks and pinned the largest pinsir, even as manectric pounced with teeth bared. The assault resulted in a very dead pinsir- crushed around the midsection where heracross had grabbed it, and torn in the face where manectric had clawed out its eyes and tore out its throat- but also a very alive one that threw itself at the weakest target in in sight.

Lawrence responded appropriately, twisting his wrist and extending his arm, meeting the desperate pinsir with the back of his shovel. The pinsir scrambled up and attempted to get to safety, screeching as it fled back down the road it came from with more speed than one would usually accredit to its rather short and thin legs.

Any hope of escape for the stag however, was dashed when Lawrence's first pokemon, the one that had been lying down in the road jumped to its feet and pounced, meeting the fleeing pinsir with glowing claws and fangs.

It was brutal. Claws dug into the joints where the pinsir's arms met its abdomen and rendered its arms useless. Using them as a foothold, Lawrence's pokemon then darted around to the pinsir's back and sunk glowing fangs into the back of the pinsir's head. The pinsir shrieked- an unearthly sound that I hope to never hear again- as blood washed over the predator's fangs. It began moving in wild jerks- attempting to shake the assailant off- but its deliberately wild shakes turned into mild trembling, before it shook violently in a wild spasm, and then fell the ground convulsing. Lawrence's pokemon brought its paw down in one quick strike to the back of the head and the pinsir went still, save for the occasional twitch of a leg.

I stared in awe at the display of predatory prowess, but a second later the predator sprung up and bounded past me, and the spell was broken. I turned to follow its path, finding it headed towards Lawrence, who had propped himself up against a tree, the shovel discarded at his side as he caught his breath. Jenny was scanning the area, making sure it was safe, her manectric at her side. She was visibly shaken, but an iron discipline allowed her to keep her wits about her.

That left only me and Heracross. I glanced at the large bug awkwardly I held the pokeball that it came from out in front of me _'I need to mark these pokeballs. It doesn't matter if everything was fine this time, if in the future I send out the wrong pokemon for a specific situation, or worse yet send out and injured pokemon on accident, the conclusion won't be nearly as forgiving as this. Maybe my knife can carve out scratches on the surface, a different number of scratches for each one. That should work, but can my knife scratch the surface?'_

Amidst my mental tirade the heracross looked around confused, as if it didn't quite recall what had happened or where it was, which was understandable. The beetle walked over to me and tugged on my shirt, saying something to me in its language of buzzing.

 _'What could it be saying? Lets assume a question, so what is the who, what, where, and why?'_

I performed a quick mental checklist of everything that was going on, then decided how best to say it "The pinsir attacked us out of the blue, I guess that we accidentally wandered into their territory. We're currently on a road to Ekruteac city from Goldenrod, the main road was out, so we took this smaller one." The heracross continued looking up at me expactantly, waiting for me to continue.

That was the easy part, how do I explain everything that's been going on. I know that my explanation to Lawrence on the fate of Goldenrod was less than considerate, I didn't know if heracross would react the same, but it would be smart to frame it in a less harsh context. "Do you remember a couple of days ago, when you broke out of you pokeball and started thrashing around?" The heracross supplemented a nod (well something that looked like a nod, it didn't seem to have a discernible neck) "Well, as it turns out, all the pokemon in Goldenrod did that, and then a bunch of wild pokemon came in and took over the city, so we had to run."

It was a good half truth, like all good lies it was very true, just some missing some very important context. Heracross seemed to buy it, as it nodded again, and looked back up at me, waiting for me to continue.

I was beginning to feel sick, I would have to elaborate a little bit, or else misinformation would be the end of heracross. _'Should I mention my amnesia?'_

"Anyways, ever since a couple nights ago when all the pokemon started thrashing about, all of them seem to have gotten a lot stronger, like, when we were escaping the city, we saw a bunch of tentacruel spitting up acid, and it was melting cement. While we were in the city still though, one of the pokemon accidentally took some of my memories, so I might act a little strange while I try to get them back."

It was a good story, it was easier to think of pokemon as stronger than deadlier, and absolutes were always terrifying, so to say that all my memories were gone would be to invite chaos. This way he wouldn't know the extent of my memory loss, and he didn't need to know.

Still, everything seemed quiet as I finished telling. _'Did I do something wrong?'_

My fears were put to rest when Heracross nodded (bowed, shook, whatever it was) in affiirmation and I took out the pokeball "I need you at your best, take a rest heracross." I said, calling it back.

I sighed in relief with that situation diffused. Heracross were by nature scatterbrained and easy going, despite-or perhaps because of- their great strength. Had it been a less calm and more critical pokemon, such as Houndoom or Gyardados, my impromptu explanation could have turned out much differently.

I looked around again, Jenny seemed to be confident in our safety, and walked back inside the cabin, but not before sending out two more pokemon; a large bird with feathers the color of refined metal, Skamory, and one a large dog-like creature, complete with three massive claws on each of its four feet, and pale silver fur that contrasted heavily against ebony skin, which contrasted still against deep, red eyes.

Lawrence was still sitting against a tree, each of the pokemon he had sent out earlier at his side save Magnezone, and he petted each affectionately, laughing with them. I decided to approach him.

"Right before I went into that house I swore you were going to die for acting so flippantly."

Lawrence looked up from the pokemon in his arms, a small squirrel creature with yellow patches on its cheeks found among most electric types and stopped cooing it for a minute to address me "I told you I had it handled."

"It didn't look very handled, want to explain what happened?"

Lawrence sighed and slowly lowered his pokemon to the ground "Well, Delux-luxio- was the pokemon that I sent out to keep watch, cause it can see and hear real well. So I sent him out and looked for some fuel, and I found some, so I started bringing it to the truck. Delux was at my side at the time, but the pinsir popped out of the ground, from little holes and surrounded us. I brought a shovel back to the truck because I thought it would be useful, so I ran and grabbed it. There were too many to take in a straight fight, so Delux and I cleared a path in one direction, then faked an injury so he could get behind them. Then you came out."

I nodded in approval, I had underestimated Lawrence's cunning for the first and last time. Delux (what sort of name was that?), the luxio, the pokemon that was collapsed in the road, and Lawrence had a mutual understanding of what they needed to do and that the other knew it. They thought similarly, in sync. The pair surprised me.

"Enough about me, eh?" Lawrence said "You look a bit roughed up yourself."

I explained to him what had happened within the house, withholding the voice in my head (a cause for concern) and my original perception of the pinsir, Lawrence nodded and asked a few questions, even as he continued giving attention to his pokemon, helping them through what had just happened.

When my story was over Lawrence nodded then grinned "You know what? Enough about that, its in the past, lets play a game I used to play with my older sister back in Sinnoh, its called "Who's that Pokemon?" It's simple, just name each of the six pokemon I have right here" he said, gesturing to each of the pokemon he had scattered around.

My initial reaction was to refuse, to demand the names of each of his pokemon, but as I looked down in exasperation I noticed that Lawrence's good leg was shaking a little, and after looking back at him, so was a finger on his left hand, the muscles in his neck appeared tense, and every few seconds he blinked several times in rapid succession, as if he had something in his eye.

 _'He's trying to cope, just like his pokemon. They're looking for affirmation that everything is alright with what's happening by acting like nothing is different, looking for affection, and Lawrence is trying to cope by giving it, like nothing is different with what his pokemon did. He's trying to get his mind off it, find comfort in the familiar.'_

In interest of his morale I obliged "Alright, I'm game." I pointed to the large lizard pokemon with a flame on its tail, the obvious outlier as most of the others appeared to be electric types "Charmeleon".

Lawrence grinned "Alright, but that was the easy one, what about the rest?"

"Magnezone, Luxio" I recalled, pointing at the two that I had already seen in action, recalling what Lawrence had called them, then pointing to the next two in rapid succession "E'ectrabuzz, Rotom" I looked at the last one in Lawrence's arms, stuck.

" _It's called Pachiritsu"_

I decided to give the voice a shot "Pachiritsu".

Lawrence grinned slyly "Nice try. But its 'Pachirisu'" he said, whilst aforementioned squirrel curling up and hugging its tail in response to the lack of petting.

""Darn, you really know your stuff. I'm surprised that you got Rotom, Luxio- they're all native to Sinnoh. You almost got Pachirisu as well."

"Well, you said luxio's name, remember, 'Delux'" I faked a laugh, in reality the beast terrified me "Everyone knows rotom, its the basis of every ghost story that ever was. I guessed with pachiritsu, it looks like a pikachu, and I thought it might be named similarly." I lied. "No 't'? Is it from Kanto, or eastern Johto?"

"Well, no. But the person that explored part of Sinnoh where they are found was an explorer from the old Kanto empire, so it was named by a Kanto'n...Kanta'n? Kantain? Whatever you call someone from Kanto. Anyways, even though we all have to speak Common now, proper nouns keep the pronunciations from the old languages."

"Huh"

"Still cant believe you almost guessed Pachi's name? Maybe we should name you 'Lucky'" Lawrence laughed, an obnoxious guffaw with a light undertone.

"Given what you named you're luxio, I don't think I'd come to you for a name, besides I already have one: Crescent"

Lawrence stopped laughing "Funny name, when did you remember it?"

"It's not so much a name as a creed. A promise I made to myself."

"Ah well, 'how else are you supposed to live, if not through promises and dreams?' as a wise man once said, just now actually." Lawrence laughed again, his demeanor shifting back to normal "Still think 'Lucky is better though" Lawrence proceeded to stand up, recalling each of his pokemon with calm reassurances and affection, and began walking to the truck, and I followed.

"How does one name their cat 'Delux', anyways?" I asked as Lawrence picked up the container of fuel he dropped earlier.

Lawrence hefted it and walked it over to the truck, opening the gas cap and filling the tank "When I first caught him a long time ago, he had a huge attitude. He was my first pokemon, so I named him something silly to try to wear down his silly pride, so I called him Delux, as a play on his name and because of his massive ego." Lawrence chuckled nervously "I was a crazy kid at the time, its no wonder it didn't work like I thought it would, in hindsight. I usually call him Luxio or some other nickname, I only call him that to get on his nerves." Lawrence closed the gas tank and threw the container in the bed of the trunk.

"He's strong"

"Well, I've been training him for years, he was my first." Lawrence turned towards me and furrowed his brow "What's wrong with your shoulder?"

"Huh?"

"This." Lawrence said, pulling back my leather jacket where I had left it unzipped, revealing a layer of coagulated blood upon my shoulder.

The sight of my own blood had a profound effect on me, as if someone had ripped the curtains off a window. Suddenly I felt somewhat exhausted, and my shoulder was sore, as though I had held my hand above my head for several hours. When did this happen?

 _'Noctowl'_ I realized, as I recalled when the owl had accidentally dug its talons into my shoulder back in the sewers. I had hardly noticed it at the time, merely felt a brief pinching sensation in my shoulder, and I was so tense from the tunnels that I completely forgot about the wound.

"A couple days ago, back in the sewers. Noctowl accidentally dug its talons into my shoulder while trying to perch."

"You didn't think to check on it after the fact?"

"I didn't notice it."

"You ran, dug a grave, slept in the bed of a truck, and wrestled a pinsir, and didn't notice your shoulder wound?"

He had a valid point. I hadn't taken it easy on my shoulder in the last few days, really, its no wonder that I had irritated the wound.

"You know what, old cabin out here, it has to have some medical supplies" Lawrence said "Lets go inside and clean it off, take a good look at it, see if we can do anything to fix it up any better, okay?"

* * *

Jenny winced as she drew an alcohol laden piece of cloth across one of the long scrapes on her arm. The cuts weren't particularly deep, having been caused by the fragmentation of glass when the pinir systematically breached her room in the manner they did mine. I had been shielded from the flying glass by my leather jacket, but Jenny, who was wearing naught but a blue short sleeved shirt and a pair of khaki pants, was not quite as fortunate.

"Alright, lets take a look at this" Lawrence said, removing my leather jacket to reveal my blood stained v-neck beneath it. Jenny came forward with the alcohol, as well as some bandages and inspected my shoulder through the shirt. Lawrence poked and prodded my shoulder, making me wince in discomfort as he found the wound.

"Okay, the shirt has to go if we want to get at the wound" I complied, and Jenny took a wet rag and cleaned off the blood so they could see the wound. When all the blood was gone and the wound was visible the two examined the front, six small holes in my shoulder, spaced evenly apart from the base of my collarbone to the end of my shoulder.

"It doesn't look that deep, maybe an inch? What do you think Jenny?"

"No, its deeper than that, the talons are curved, see? Probably around an inch and a half, maybe a little more. It should heal completely, at least if it wasn't infected, but it will be uncomfortable for a while, I wouldn't recommend using it if you can help it, you could irritate it and slow the healing."

"But that's my dominant arm!" I protested.

"Then learn how to use your other arm, or find a way to use it without using your shoulder." Jenny turned back towards Lawrence "We'll handle the front first, I'm not sure if its worth sterilizing at this point, but we may as well try, get something for him to bite on."

Jenny reached back towards the medical supplies, producing another piece of gauze doused in alcohol. Lawrence did a quick scan of his surroundings and grabbed my green v-neck, finding a clean spot on it and giving it to me.

Pain erupted from my shoulder as Jenny applied the alcohol, as though she had poured not alcohol but boiling water into the wounds. When Jenny was finished she handed Lawrence a piece of fresh gauze and told him to compress my shoulder with it while she was cleaning out the wounds in my back.

"Two piercing wounds in the back of the shoulder. Its back claws were serrated, so it tore the muscle, thankfully one of them is shallow, I don't even think I can call it a wound. The other one looks about an inch deep.

The pain from the antiseptic was more contained than before, but more painful where it chose to spread. After Jenny finished cleaning out the wound Lawrence quickly took the bandages and wrapped them around my shoulder, isolating the bloody holes from the world.

* * *

"Lets make sure we don't have to do this again." I'm not sure which of us said that, but we were all inclined to agree.

"We should probably stay here for the night"

The idea caught me completely off guard "Even after the pinsir attacked us? There might be more."

Jenny shook her head calmly "It wasn't a quiet fight, if there were any other pokemon out hunting nearby, they would have come by now."

Lawrence put down the small glass of milk that supplemented the meager meal of fresh fruit and bread "Why should we stop at all? There's enough stuff here to last us a while on the road, if we just load it up. We can take turns driving to Ekruteak through the day and night like we have been for the last couple of days, we'd make better time, and we'd be less likely to get attacked."

"The road is too rough up here, there's too many bumps and debris to drive safely through the night, we could hit something and damage the truck, then we would have to walk to safety. Also, if we were to get attacked on the move while two of us were exhausted from driving, I'm not sure how well we'd be able to fend them off, especially in the dark. It's better to be somewhere where we can understand our surroundings, and set up sentries." Jenny said.

I scratched my chin in thought. If what Jenny said was true- and I didn't doubt it- then we could hit a particularly sharp rock and blow out a tire in the dark, then we'd be more or less exposed in the middle of the night. On the other hand, if we were attacked in the cabin again, we could control where the enemies approached from, set up night watches to keep us alerted of anything coming to close, and we could take measures to conceal ourselves and minimize chances of confrontation, given that sufficient resources were available to us.

"Lawrence, you said that there was a gas generator somewhere in here?" I asked the older man.

"There is, in a storage closet, but I wouldn't want to waste any fuel on it."

"Anything else in there, matches? Candles? Something we could use for light to preserve our lanterns?"

"Yeah, I found a bunch of matches, some candles too. We could use them if we decide to stay the night."

I turned towards Jenny again "We'd need to move the pinsir, cover all the windows so they can't see in, set up a small sleeping area and places for our pokemon to keep watch. Do we have enough time for that?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think we could do it."

"We have to move the bodies now then, the longer we wait the more opportunity there is to attract unwanted attention." I responded.

"We could move them inside. It would save time, and their bodies would probably cover our scent and frighten off other pokemon"

"What about carrion eaters?"

"They won't rot yet, and most of them Lawrence's pokemon killed with electric shock, so they won't smell much blood. Its not a concern."

I was still skeptical, but it was the best choice available to us "Alright, we should go move them inside now then, before something notices them."

"Yeah" Lawrence said, somewhat forcefully "I think I'm gonna have to sit this job out, I'm just not quite ready to, ya know."

Jenny nodded in understanding "Then you should pick out a room to sleep, and figure out how we should fortify the building to conceal ourselves."

"Stay out of the back hallway though, that's where we'll put the bodies, we don't want to be in the same room as them." I said, recalling the old man that I myself had left in the final room down the hall. Lawrence was deeply troubled by everything going on, still too soft, it was best to steer him clear of any indication of human death, if only to ease him into our reality.

"Alright, but lets finish the food first" He said, gesturing at our meals, meager by virtue of Jenny's ruthless rationing.


	7. Chapter 7: Not Out of the Woods

**NobodiesHiiro: I was a bit worried that I was going to fast on these "intermission chapters" that happen independent from the main plot (I have a plot, shocking, I know). I attempted to format them as a series of shorts with the purpose of character development, and I was a bit worried that the format wouldn't be received as well. I'm glad to hear that wasn't the case  
** **PS: "** **Motha' fuckin' Charmeleon" indeed.**

 **Nightelf37: I left a little something for you in that part of the last chapter you mentioned, just for you.**

I know now, looking back, the entire reason humanity had a chance in those first days following the shattering. Humans are crafty creatures, quick to adapt and shape the world- not matter how hostile- to fulfill their needs. While human adaptation was quick though, the looming threat of extinction was just was approaching to swiftly, at least in Johto. Ironically, among the targets of my wrath were the causes of our continued survival as a species.

Pokemon as it turns, out are every ounce as petty and diverse as humans could ever hope to be. Wrath, gluttony, envy, lust, greed, pride, and even sloth- the very flaws so long and so often accredited to the human race- made themselves known in the primed pokemon. It was something that a child could have anticipated, if properly motivated. Wild pokemon were often considered docile and aloof due to their relative lack of power, but inability to act and reservations towards acting are two very different concepts. Old feuds, competition for glory, thievery, bloodlust, territory wars, class wars, and simple overconfidence proved that pokemon fare no better than humans in each of these seven regards.

While it was true that since the beginning, humans were always the enemy of pokemon in this war, it was at times unclear to me their goal, the lines blurred by inter-species conflict. It truly was a pokewar, not a pokemon-human war.

I do give certain pokemon to little credit, however. While I cannot be sure whether or not I have experienced it myself, I hear there are wild pokemon that stand against their more varelse brethren. Either out of some sad desire for peace, pity for humans, or a dislike of the pokemon that they once competed against. Were it only that we knew where and which, until then humanity limps alone.

* * *

There is the sound of leaves rustling at my sides, grass where I lay, and the sound of a running stream nearby, but while the trees and stream whisper into my ear, the forest is silent.

It is the dead of night, it seems, judging by the surrounding darkness. A lone fire stands out, mere feet from where I sit, but the light breaks as it crashes against the darkness, revealing nothing, and my eyes follow the only unique detail in the scape before me.

"You are distracted"

The voice was deep and solemn, coming from the darkness and blending in with it so seamlessly I could not find it, I chose instead to respond, feeling no danger.

"It is too dark too see well, even with the fire."

There was a pause for a moment, before the voice came returned "But that is not all that taxes your mind, is it?"

Wasn't it though? "Not a thought in my head"

"Hm." The voice grunted, followed by another deliberate pause before it spoke again "You are afraid our enemies will find us, led to us by the flame, and you will be unable to fend yourself off in your feeble blindness."

"I'm not afraid of the dark."

"Only the monsters that lay behind it."

The pregnant silence that ensued spoke volumes that we could not have hoped to have achieved with words.

I initiated conversation this time "I still have nightmares regardless, from the shattering, from before the shattering, and up until the day that I sleep. I won't sleep well until all of our enemies are dead."

There was a sound, a shifting, like someone rolling over upon a bed of leaves, but almost indistinguishable from the sounds of the trees "No wars in recent memory have been ended through the complete eradication of the losing side. Why should this one be any different?"

I found myself about to scoff, but caught myself, not wanting to insult whoever the voice came from "Most wars in recent memory was man waging war against man, not man against monster."

"Oh, and what makes you think these are monsters?"

"They clearly aren't men, and they kill men" I answered.

"They killed as I have killed, each we have encountered on the road has probably killed fewer than I."

"That is different, you were at war, you are human, and you had orders and reason."

A short series of quiet, rapid huffs came from formless man-an alien expression of amusement I realized "And if I said that-in my youth- I had the strength of ten men, such that I could bend steel with no more than my hands and the desire to do so, or that I moved like a spirit through the grass, as I stalked prey?"

"Abnormal, but human."

"And if I said that I could breathe fire?"

That caught me off guard, enough so that my eyes rose from the fire briefly "Could you?"

"No."

My eyes dropped back to the fire.

The man sounded his amusement again, with another set of huffs "Who is to say that they do not follow orders, do not have purpose?"

"They don't."

"And how do you figure?"

"Because they are monsters."

The man huffed again "Naive, perhaps someday you will open your eyes."

I felt myself grow frustrated, with how he tied my words around me like a noose, and guided my emotions "I see what I need to."

"You see what is in front of you, not why, nor how. If this war is to ever end, you must look not in front of you, but ahead, and deep, with eyes not clouded by hatred or fear." a shuffling came from my right, the rustling of leaves. I turned towards it, staring into the darkness expectantly.

"What convinces you that they are not monsters?" I asked.

There was an uncomfortable silence before he answered "Because I have seen and fought monsters, and won and lost to them- both within and without."

"There are many, I imagine."

"Not as many as you think, for reasons other than the people I've killed."

* * *

AUGUST 22nd

" _Something's coming."_

I cracked open one eye, peeking into the dimly lit room we chose to sleep in. The kitchen was the ideal choice, with enough space for each of us, not far from the door, and arranged in such a way we could see it from where we were with more ease than something could see where we were from it.

Lawrence lay on his side, looking towards the door. Jenny faced the same direction, propped halfway up against a cabinet.

I reflected on the warning, and the dream before it _'Different voices, the one of warning and the one in the dream. The warning was the same voice as yesterday, it hasn't been wrong yet, but is that reason enough_ _to wake the others?'_

I peeked out the window over the kitchen sink, finding darkness, darkness, and-lo and behold- more darkness, before I retreated back to the ground. Noctowl was keeping watch outside for any potential threats, and magnezone was watching the other rooms in the house, if anything approached, we'd have plenty of warning.

 _'Maybe'_ I reasoned _'assuming that the warning was accurate, it may mean exactly what it said: something is coming soon. It's very vague, it doesn't necessarily mean we're in danger, it may just pass.'_

And so I sat there in the darkness, ears peeled, scanning the night for abnormalities. My eyes glued to the door, cast in a dim light of an electric torch.

"You're diligent, keeping watch despite all our precautions."

Jenny's voice cut through the silence like a hot knife through butter, breaking my concentration and causing me to jerk in her direction, startled.

Jenny's eyes met mine for an instant, before turning back to the door and lowering her gaze to her hands, clasped together in her lap before she spoke again "I take it back, you're just restless, though I don't blame you."

I turned my gaze back towards the door, contemplating how to respond, if at all. "You mean you're not restless?"

"No, I am, I've just been restless for a long time."

Jenny chose not too elaborate, and I thought it best not to pry.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" I asked next, eager for dawn to come, so we could flee this forest, again on our way to a supposed safe haven.

"I don't count the hours."

"Did you get any sleep then?"

"Some. I just woke up."

"What about Lawrence?"

"I had to check his pulse to make sure he was alive."

"I'm surprised, I heard his stomach growling like a motor before I went to sleep." I chuckled to myself a little, recalling how difficult it was to sleep before the noise ceased.

Jenny gave a single chuckle ""Is that what it was? I thought that it was one of the pokemon we put on watch." Jenny shook her head slightly "Was my rationing that off?"

"I'm famished, and Lawrence didn't finish his food at lunch, I think the same with dinner, and he threw up what he ate before in the sewers. I think this is hitting him harder than he wants us to think it is."

"I'll have to make sure he eats his food in the future. If you want you can eat something to tide you over until morning. It might help you sleep, just be aware of our ration situation."

I shook my head, remembering the warning that woke me up and thought of an excuse "No, I think I'm better off awake, I couldn't sleep with the dreams I have been having recently anyways."

"Weird or bad?" Jenny turned, her eyes fixating on me, waiting for a response.

I hesitated "Both, to the extreme." It wasn't necessarily a lie, I had been having nightmares similar to the first night early that night, and the dream that I just woke up from was very odd.

Jenny nodded slowly, then faced back forward, tracing her finger along the floor "Its common when developing PTSD."

"No," I said with certainty "I don't think its post traumatic stress, its traumatic stress, every minute of every day, no post about it. I'm sure it will fade on its own once we reach safety."

Jenny's usually sharp red-brown eyes went out of focus for a moment, and she rubbed two fingers against her arm as one would to quell goosebumps "I thought so too, so don't tell me I didn't warn you."

I sensed I was wondering into sensitive territory, and I knew that I should back out of the conversation, couldn't bring myself to pass a chance to analyze Jenny's psych "You were part of the Hoenn police force right? Was it that?" I asked putting as much empathy as possible into my voice.

"Yes and no. I wasn't in Hoenn at the time, but my sister in the international police requested my team's help with an anti-terror investigation."

"Ah" If terrorism was involved, I knew that this was not a path I wanted to talk my way down "Never mind, you don't have to tell me about it, sorry."

"No" Jenny said "There are many reasons for you to know."

I scolded myself for wandering into such unfamiliar territory, but I made my bed, now I had to sleep in it, I figured it would be best to get it over with and save face "Alright, continue then" I said cautiously, this time without any feeling at all, thinking it best to act objective in regards to this story.

"My older sister Jenny was an international police officer investigating Team Cipher- a terrorist group that wished to overthrow the Orrian government. One day she called me and asked me to transfer files on the finances of past terrorist organizations that the Hoenn government knew about- both in Hoenn and otherwise."

She looked at me for confirmation for if I was ready to continue. I analyzed what she said, but tripped over the first statement "I know this doesn't seem like the point of focus, but did you say that your sister's name was also Jenny?"

Jenny gave a dry smile "Yes, and she was a police officer, and we looked identical."

"Was?" I asked cautiously.

"Was."

I let out a small "Ah" before recovering and following up with "My condolences."

Jenny responded only with a curt nod "I don't know why she wanted them, but a month later she formally requested that I meet her in Orre, saying it had to do with something she found in the papers that I sent her. We met on a boat that was going from Olivine city in Johto to Gateon Port in Orre, but we were attacked by pirates, and we wound up shipwrecked in the desert."

"But you lived?"

"We survived the shipwreck, along with the captain and two crew members. Where we set down there wasn't any sign of the pirates, so we decided to camp along the coast, trying to catch the attention of any passing ships."

"You didn't try to walk along the shore to find civilization?"

"Orre's desert region is large and unforgiving, filled with different crime organizations and empty of cities. There's no other desert like it on Earth, there's no pokemon to hunt and eat in them, its the true definition of wasteland."

"Wait, there's no pokemon in Orre's desert?"

"There's none in any of Orre, the climate is to harsh. No wild ones, anyways."

"You'd think that some wild pokemon would be able to survive there, surely its not just the climate."

"Well if there is another reason then I don't know it." Jenny snapped. I jolted startled by her reaction to what seemed to be a perfectly honest question, but given the sensitive subject, I dismissed it.

"You were just talking about when you were camping along the coast."

"Right" Jenny resumed "We were camping along the coast that night, my sister was on watch, and she spotted the same vessel that attacked us beaching itself landing on the shore, and pirates disembarking. In order to avoid the pirates, we fled into the desert. And right into a trap."

"A small scouting group found us and attacked us, the crew did not last long. A man attacked me, attempted to fight me in unarmed combat, I couldn't land a blow. When it seemed I was not long for this world, my sister saved me, using herself as a diversion and cutting him across his abdomen with a knife. I always made fun of her for bringing one, but maybe if I had followed her example I could have done the same for her, instead of lying on the ground while he strangled her. I played dead it wasn't hard, I almost was, and the attackers left."

"I am sorry."

Jenny leaned forward slightly, her gaze fixating on me with a certain intensity for an instant, before her eyes glazed over somewhat, as if she were looking past myself, the confines of the cabin, the sky, or perhaps nowhere at all "Its not your fault, if its anyone's, its my sister's, the pirates, the monster's and my own. Two of them are dead and exempt of blame. One of them died fighting like a hero, the other ran into the desert and bled to death a gutted pig. The only ones left to blame are the pirates and myself. And I DID blame myself. Now I blame no one." Jenny leaned back again, her red eyes returning to their usual level of focus before she scoffed "Go to sleep, I'll keep watch. Any nightmares you have will be yours to deal with."

I was in no mood to argue with Jenny after hearing her recollection, one that I had brought on through prying and misleading. I didn't think I could fall asleep, and in spite of the warning that the voice had given me when I awoke, I was wrong.

* * *

"Hey kid, that's enough beauty sleep for one night. Wake up."

I groggily pushed myself up from the floor, pushing myself upright to see Lawrence's somehow jovial face. "Alright, good start. Now you should go grab Noctowl from where you left him on watch. Wouldn't do to leave the night owl here when we take off in some fifteen minutes eh?"

"Yeah yeah" I waved him off "This is a new level of cheery for you, pleasant dreams?"

Lawrence chuckled to himself "Well what can I say? The fresh air is getting to me. I think after this I'll become a mountain man, wandering through the wilderness of Sinnoh with nothing but my clothes and my wits, along with an incredibly long, graying beard and a stick to wave at teenage hooligans that wander into my neck of the woods."

"You do that old timer, I'll help you pack when we get out of this. But you should stop the crappy joke and go eat before we leave."

"Tough crowd" Lawrence's face turned into a mock scowl "Kids these days, wouldn't know good comedy if it hit them in the face

"Yeah yeah, tragic. Do...whatever half useful thing that you do, I guess. I don't want to have Jenny breathing down my neck because you were burning all my time" I said, walking over to the corner of the kitchen to grab my bag, before I remembered something "Oh Lawrence, you said you never fired a gun before, does that mean you don't have any weapon in you?"

"Aside from my amazing shoveling skills?" Lawrence laughed for a moment before his face became completely serious "No."

"Well then, here." I said, handing him the odd weapon that I found the day before while searching the house.

"Kid, I appreciate the gift, but I just don't think I can use a gun, even if I tried."

"Lawrence, the only way you wouldn't be able to use this gun is if you didn't have any hands." I scoffed "Its just a shotgun with a ridiculously small barrel. You load it with birdshot and use it to kill snakes I think, with that barrel there's enough spread that it will always brain a wild ekans."

Lawrence still looked doubtful "You sure you or Jenny wouldn't be better off with it? You would still use it better than I could."

"Lawrence, shoveling skills will only take you so far. Me and Jenny both have real weapons in case worst comes to worst. You don't. Besides, with the range on this thing you'd only really use it if something was right on top of you. Aim won't matter."

Lawrence nodded and tucked the weapon away "Well, I'll hold onto it for the time being. Thanks."

I nodded in acknowledgment and stepped outside, keen on finding Noctowl.

And I did. I walked around the back of the house and gave a sharp, shrill whistle. A branch in one of the trees rustled and Noctowl swooped down and onto my outstretched arm. I gave it some words of praise and returned it to the pokeball (now marked with a single long, deep scratch.) and deeply inhaled. It would be a relief to be back on the road. By Larwence's estimate we could be on a well maintained highway where we could drive through the night safely by noon, surrounded by nothing but open fields.

Of course, the open fields only removed the pretense of safety before we would be attacked, which I realized meant I was looking cheering for the fear before death. Then again, in these forests, danger was nowhere to be found, therefor death could be anywhere, and fear was everywhere.

I sighed and brushed off the thought. The line between vigilance and paranoia was thin, and I walked down the border. My vigil would only do so much to keep me safe in this forest where anything could hide anywhere, but paranoia would distract me from true threats.

I walked back around the house and waited for Lawrence and Jenny to emerge, twiddling my thumbs aimlessly and scanning my surroundings in lieu of Notowl.

I whirled when the door opened behind me shortly thereafter, Lawrence walking out first, a slight limp still clinging to his gait, and Jenny followed.

We were mostly silent as we prepared to leave, myself loading items into the cabin, Jenny taking the driver's seat, while Lawrence loaded the fuel tank with gasoline and hopped in the back.

Jenny turned the key in the ignition, bringing the engine to life with a hum. Lawrence cheered somewhat as the wheels began to turn, bringing us closer to our final destination.

" _They're here"_

My eyes went wide, and then my world flipped upside down.

* * *

 **As always, constructive criticism is appreciated. The next one won't be so long in the making (probably).**


	8. Chapter 8: Not Out of the Woods- Part 2

**Cornova: I'm glad that you like the diction I use, especially for Crescent. I liked to use words like "Noose" because it emphasizes on how trapped and desperate he really feels, though he doesn't actively realize it because he doesn't know what it's like to truly be free of it. Its one of the aspects I enjoy about writing from the point of view of a character as unique as Crescent, especially when he interacts with characters with different methods of thought that are just as lost as he is.** **As for what made his world go topsy-turvy... you'll see.**

 **Nightelf37: Thank YOU for pointing out my spelling flub, I don't mind going back and changing some things to correct past mistakes. and improve my story.**

That moment will likely forever be preserved by my memory in perfect detail.

It seemed as though it occurred slowly, as if I watched unfold in a lull of time. The unsettled feeling, as though my soul had parted from my body. The sickness in the stomach, as though I had plummeted from a mountain. The startled look on Jenny's face, so immediate was the shock that she had no time to remove her hand from the key in the ignition. There was that pull on my body, as though I was on a roller coaster, with the seat belt digging into my side. The glass pelting and cutting my face, like razor shards of flying hail.

My life flashed before my eyes, as pitifully short as it was. But that was second to all the sensations I felt. All the time in the world could not describe the things I felt in that single instant.

Then Jenny fell against the ceiling with a thud and did not move. Gravity worked its magic on me as well, but my seat belt saved me from an unfortunate meeting with the ground. My body seemed to move on its own, curling into a ball and then releasing the buckle of seat belt, meeting the Earth on my own terms, with my arms and legs taking the brunt of the impact. Having flipped a full three-hundred and sixty degrees in the last minute taxed me, and I rolled on my side dizzily before coming to my senses and coming to another frightening realization.

 _'It's a pinsir'_

The glass from the side window erupted, pelting me with glass a second time. I haphazardly threw a punch in its direction and righted myself so that I was on my hands and knees. I reached for my belt, swearing as I found that both my weapons and my pokeballs were nowhere to be found. I looked back out the window and saw the pinsir I struck getting back up, and then felt my panic double with along with the number of things that wanted us dead. There was another one, closer now, in the front windshield.

Jenny was unconscious beside me, and Lawrence was in the bed of the truck- I tried not to think about what befell him. Escape for me while still disoriented from the crash was improbable, for all three of us- impossible.

 _"Duck!"_

I flattened myself against the ceiling just as two angry horns came at me from the windshield. Briefly and sincerely thanking the voice in my head, I punched it between the eyes and then turned and kicked it away, then time seemed to slow again as I took a breath and analyzed the situation.

 _'Two enemies, some degree of intelligence. They set up an ambush. Very aggressive, probably a part of the group we fought yesterday. Tough exoskeleton, powerful horns, wicked claws. Slow though, center of mass is off kilter and its legs are scrawny, so its easy to set off balance. Punches and kicks might slow it down, but I need a sharp weapon.'_

 _'Close quarters. Need to get out, where I have more room to maneuver, be aggressive, draw attention away from Jenny and Lawrence.'_

I glanced around for a moment, searching for an impromptu weapon and instead finding my knife sticking out of the ceiling behind me, which I took gratefully concealed behind my wrist before attempting to roll out.

I was halted as another set of horns, this one belonging to the window side Pinsir as it charged me, missing narrowly as I rolled away. Realizing I was too close to the side window, I quickly flipped onto my back and crawled away, forcing the pinsir to bend down at its waist (for its lack of definable neck) and enter the truck through the window on all fours.

Every thought and plan I had up until that point was tossed to the wind as I saw how vulnerable the single action had left it; its eyes facing towards the ground so that it could not see me, suspended above a pile of broken glass, with its center of mass too far forward to hold itself up. I rolled back onto my stomach and threw myself at it, falling just short of it on my hands and knees. Before the pinsir could look to see what was going on, I clasped both of my hands together and swung them down on the back of the pinsir's head.

The pinsir crumbled under its own weight, its thin legs unable to support the bulk of its horns and the force of my arms. It fell flat on its face, grunting in surprise, but not pain. I grabbed it by its horns-hissing as my fingers brushed the jagged chitin- and dragged it forward through the glass, causing it to begin shrieking in earnest shriek. I spared a glance over my shoulder, searching for the other pinsir, finding it standing still, watching, hesitant to enter repeat the mistakes of the first. Working quickly, I flipped the flailing pinsir on its back, getting my first look at my handiwork.

Tiny flecks of glass found purchase in its armor, and its arms and legs had small cuts where they scraped across the glass. These injuries were slight, almost not worth mentioning. Its eyes however, were unrecognizable; one a deflated sac shaking freely within the socket whilst dripping sclera, the other marginally better- finding itself as the home of a particularly nasty piece of glass the length of my thumb.

As the bug-type screeched and flailed in pain, I worked quickly to put it out of its misery, taking my knife and plunging it into the terribly ruined eye. The pinsir stopped flailing, then resumed screeching with newly found energy. I withdrew the knife and then thrust it between its eyes, to no avail, then flipped it on its back and stabbed it where I imagined the spine would be before the screeching seized.

I turned towards the other pinsir just in time to see it get knocked over with a resounding crack. Lawrence quickly dove down, grabbing another gun-my gun- pointed it an pulled the trigger, only to be met with silence. Scowling, he picked up a shovel and slammed the blade into the pinsir, not stopping until the bug-type stopped screeching.

"Lawrence, Lawrence! What the hell is going on?"

"The hell should I know? I just got tossed out of the back of a truck and this ugly son of a bitch is standing around. I don't see Jenny, is she alright?"

"She hit her head, she's out cold. Give me my gun, then I'll hand her off to you, drag her into the woodline."

"Right, on i-the f-"

Lawrence next word was interrupted as the truck lurched again. I instinctively curled into a ball as the truck flipped right side up, tossing me out the window and onto the ground. I rolled to a stop, then uncurled and looked around, finding a third pinsir next to where the truck was lying previously upside down. I glanced around again, finding Jenny lying on the ground nearby. I crawled over on my stomach, trying not to draw attention to myself as the pinsir yelled and cried. When I made it to her, I hastily drew her gun, turned off the safety, aimed and pulled the trigger on the bug, ripping through the right of it abdomen. The gunshot was loud, but the recoil was manageable, allowing me to quickly take aim once I had recovered and fire again, this time poking a messy hole between its eyes.

I turned the safety back on and then grabbed Jenny's arms and then dragged her off the road, into the shrubs and set her there. I next took position and withdrew Jenny's firearm yet again, examining the crime scene.

 _'Lawrence isn't on the road'_ I noticed with some elation, it was likely he had the same idea I did and was sitting in the shrubs across from me.

 _'Most of our stuff is on the road'_ was my next observation, the food that we had stuck in the back of the truck had been flung onto either side of the road. We had to collect some before fleeing, our stomach was empty and journey full of days yet traveled.

 _'Lawrence's pokeballs are behind the truck'_ If either one of us could reach them, we could stave off further pokemon attacks.

 _'My pokeballs are in front of the truck'_ I would have to retrieve them before leaving.

' _The truck is still running'_ And indeed, against all odds, the truck was running in spite of having been flipped twice. Once I had collected everything I needed, I would have simply to make sure that Lawrence was inside and get Jenny inside.

' _Jenny'_ In spite of all the chaos, she had yet to have woken up. I crawled quietly over to where I set her down and checked her pulse, breathing a sigh of relief as a rhythmic thumping pushed against my fingers. I shook her harshly, attempting to rouse her. Realizing the futility- as she had been shaken as much as I had- I slapped her across the face, sparing no force from the strike. She was still not roused.

Then something caught my attention- not ten feet from where I lay was a large hole, no less than one yard in diameter. Dirt lay around the edge and scattered on the leaves of the bushes closest to it. A light bulb went off in my head _'They came from underground, they were probably NESTING underground, this isn't retaliation, we are sitting on top of a den of very irritable bugs!'_

There were more, small lumps of displaced soil, scattered about the road- thus far we had been attacked with little rhyme or reason; in the ambush at the cabin they attacked with little forward planning and no regard for their own safety or that of their allies. Now it made sense, they were burying themselves to hide from the cold front the last few days. Whichever ones were roused by the noise came to us, still drowsy and angry. But worse still, the cold front was dying down, the cold was had receded and today was the warmest day I had ever felt.

This made the pinsir easier to rouse, easier to anger.

But more to the point, move and make noise, you're toast.

So I moved gingerly, prone on the ground and careful not to let my stomach drag, anything beneath me would be sure to hear it. I crawled first to my own pokeballs and placed them within my jacket. We could avoid another direct confrontation against the pinsir if I simply collected everything quickly and quietly, then got everyone in the car and slammed the gas pedal before they could react.

I paused momentarily as I approached the broken windshield, scattered in a million shards in front of me. Careful not to break any of the glass, I pressed onwards, relying on my jacket to protect my arms from the sharp shards. I adopted the tactic of holding my chest above the ground, fearful that my beating heart against the earth could alert enemies in the deep.

More crawling, gathering an armfull of food as I went. I sidled along the ground, up to the car door, slowly rising to my feet and opening the passenger door. I silently put the food I had grabbed on the floorboard, then crawled back to the bushes where I left Jenny. I checked her pulse again, then shook and slapped her again in an attempt to rouse her, but to no avail.

A rustling in the bushes behind me caught my attention, prompting me to tuck Jenny behind a tree and flatten my stomach to the ground, pointing my gun in the direction of the noise. Another rustle, and my thumb flipped the safety off, holding my breath as I looked down the sights.

A human hand breached the bushes, and I lowered my gun in relief as Lawrence fully emerged from the greenery. Lawrence looked around briefly, sizing up the situation before pointing at Jenny and giving me a worried look, to which I gave a thumbs up, then proceeded to signal my plan to him with my hands, knowing full well that some bugs communicate through faint buzzes, and not wanting to bet money on their lack of hearing abilities.

Lawrence stopped me halfway through the plan, holding one finger out, turning his head away, and closing his eyes. The message couldn't have been clearer if he had spoken it.

 _Quiet, I think I hear something._

I followed his lead and closed my eyes whilst keeping ears peeled for any noises. At first I heard nothing, but as the seconds passed on a faint vibration that I felt rather than heard became evident, and growing more clear by the second. By the time the noise became clear the terrible implications of it were running through my head. I opened my eyes and tried to keep calm, thinking of the best option forward.

Lawrence however, had neither my patience nor my calmness, instead opting to grab Jenny and make his trying to make his way out of the bushes.

 _"Stop him!"_

I was surprised by the return of the disembodied voice, and more so by the advice that it had given me, but I quickly realized I'd have come to the same conclusion myself.

 _'The sound is coming from the direction that the truck is facing'_

 _'There could be more nearby'_

 _'We can't fight AND guarantee Jenny's safety'_

I reached out and dragged him into the ground, glaring at my whilst he looked at me in shocked horror.

 _"It'd dangerous to run now, you have to wait for the right moment"_

Again, the disembodied voice came to conclusions I arrived to myself.

 _'It's probably not after us, the forest is filled with bug types that couldn't care less'_

 _'It's unlikely that whatever that buzzing is is coming exactly in our direction. Whatever it is probably doesn't want to stay on the road, meaning it won't come exactly this way'_

 _'Moving only attracts attention, and increases-'_

My justification was cut off as Lawrence reached up and slapped me, before attempting getting on his hands and knees and heading towards Jenny. I stopped the motion as quietly as I could manage, grabbing both his ankles and yanking them out from under him. Lawrence glared back at me, to which I held a finger up to my lips, then scowled back and tapped my head with a finger.

Lawrence's scowl faded at my reprimanding, and the crazed instinct-driven look I hadn't noticed left his eyes. He lowered himself onto his stomach and slowed his breathing, laying quietly on the ground as the buzzing grew louder and louder. Another buzzing accompanied it, higher pitched and softer, then a sound like scratching on gravel, then the confusion.

The sound of pinsir screaming, mingled with a symphony of violent (and while welcome) and terrifying sounds. Larwence looked at me perplexed, queuing me to crawl forward through the shrubbery and peek into the noise.

What I found surprised me. Pinsirs half-emerged from the ground by the dozen, either rising from the dirt and fighting frantically or being plucked from the ground, their lives and limbs scattered like the seeds of a dandelion blown upon by a child.

Blue shapes moved along the holes, their shining navy forms contrasting greatly from the dull browns and grays of the Pinsir they grappled. A half-emerged pinsir attempted to halt its demise as it pointed its stags in the direction of its assailant, only to be impaled through the head by a single much longer horn. Vicious gray fluid burst from the hole in the chitin, and against all odds, the pinsir continued clawing at the horn imbedded in its head. The horn's owner was less than amused, throwing the pinsir out of sight, leaving only the thick mess of blood caked on its head.

I was right to be afraid of what might have been lurking within my pokeballs. Despite the shared species, the pokemon fighting in front of me wore scowls and angry looks in place of my heracross' dopey, half-aware stare. No, these were wild animals, and violent warriors.

Even as I watched however, the tide of battled was shifting in the Pinsir, who outnumbered the half-dozen heracross at least three-to-one even after the brutal first strike. I could take advantage of this opportunity, while they were all forced into sight and occupied with one another. As it was, the fighting was moving away from the truck as the pinsir became fully mobilized and pushed the heracross back, forcing them into a fighting retreat as each was forced to engage as many as four at once.

I gestured for Lawrence to crawl forward with Jenny to see what was going on, then gestured to run to the car when I gave the signal. Lawrence gave a thumbs up, and threw Jenny over his shoulder. I busied myself with watching the battle.

The heracross were more than a match for the pinsir. There were seven of them, but several broken bodies of heracross that were either not fast enough or not smart enough were scattered about. They worked in pairs, with one heracross aiding the two most in need and helping them retreat into larger groups. The synergy was strong, when one pinsir would charge flailing its horns around, one of them would slip its horn under it and flip it over, then it would either throw the entire beetle into the distance or flail its horn wildly to defend the other as it kicked the fallen pinsir repeatedly, each blow ripping through the exoskeleton with the foot's sharp claws.

 _"Now!"_

The voice startled me from my fascination with the fighting, now a safe distance away from the truck and each participant facing away from us. I tapped Lawrence on the shoulder and emerged from the bushes, half-crouched. I opened the passenger side door for Lawrence as I passed it and then walking around to the drivers side. Lawrence quietly set Jenny into the passenger seat and buckled her while I checked to make sure the key was in the ignition. I sat down at about the same time he jumped into the back of the truck, then closed the door behind me and searching for something to protect my eyes in place of the now shattered windshield until I heard Lawrence yell.

"Shit! Move move move! Get us out of here!" he bellowed. I complied, turning the ignition and slamming on the gas, just as the world erupted in an orange flash to our left. I squinted into the strengthening wind as the car sped up and out of sight, not slowing down as we approached a bend, inviting Lawrence to yell obscenities that almost drowned out the sound of his side bashing against the wall.

I held the pedal down regardless, until Lawrence stopped swearing and complaining, until the trees faded, and hills turned to mountains, and the trees came back again. By the time I had processed that we had escaped, the danger was far behind us.

Lawrence brought his hand to his nose perplexed, then walked over to the front of the car and placed his hand on the hood. Lawrence's frown deepened, then jerked his hand away "Good news and bad news."

"What's the good news?"

"Its just coolant, its easy enough to replace, we can just fill the coolant tank up with water for the time being, and it will work just as well."

"And the bad news?"  
"The coolant hoses run tightly throughout the whole system. If it's a busted or disconnected hose it could take a while to find and fix. If its a busted pipe, it will be easier to find the culprit, but I'd have to take it out and weld a metal patch onto it."

"What's the likelihood that its a busted pipe."

"Not high, and even if it was I could pry some metal off of the chassis and use it as a patch, and use Magnezone's electricity to weld it on. If its just a hose, then I could attempt to seal it with adhesive, if its not damaged too much. If it is damaged too much then I'll have to find some way to replace it. Then there's the worse news; the engine overheated."

I shook my head, even I knew this was possibly the worst case scenario. A fuel line could be repaired or replaced, a gas tank leak could be patched and filled with booze to make up for the lost fuel, but an overheated engine? "How bad do you think it is?"

"I'd have to open it up to see, and right now its too hot to look at. Best case scenario we just wait for the engine to cool down a bit, turn on the car, run the heaters to vent out some of the heat, and I can find the leak, fill up the coolant and we hit the road again. Worst case scenario is I crack open that hood and I find that our engine is a piece of molten slag. Nothing we can do at the moment, so we just have to wait."

I felt a twinge of guilt. I was the one that was pushing the car so hard, and I was the one that should have noticed the engine giving out. Instead it was Lawrence, who was sitting in the back of the truck who noticed the trail of fluid behind us, heard the choking of the engine, and rapped on the glass until I realized something was wrong. It was incompetence in its truest form, and could have left us stranded.

"Well" Lawrence said "Did you check on Jenny?"

I nodded solemnly "She's alive, but I can't seem to wake her. She probably has a concussion."

Lawrence looked at me with a serious look in his eyes "Pull out the map so we can see where we are."

I quickly retrieved the map and traced a finger along the route we were taking before looking around "Do you see that?" I asked, pointing at a mountain in the distance "Ecruteak city is supposed to be right around that mountain, if we can make it there. That hill over there is probably this one here on the map, and since we were coming from Goldenrod, I think we are on this road here."

Lawrence looked at the map "That's too far, and it would be hard to get around the mountain. It's time for a change in plan."

 _'A change in plan? Where else can we possibly go?'_

"What do you suggest we do then?"  
"This place, Olivine City" Lawarence said pointing at the map "It's a larger city, it also has the entirety of Johto's navy, small though that is, due to the disarmament pact after the last war."

"Since when are you an expert on Johto's military encampments?"

"Since Jenny told me. We shared a lot of information, in case something were to happen to one of us. She originally intended on heading to Olivine City anyways, before we met her in the sewers."

"It won't work anyways" I scolded "Its on the water, even if the navy did hold, how long could they keep it up until the tentacruel make it inland?"

"Its a different situation. When I was working on the pokemon contest hall I found out that Goldenrod City was originally built on top of a salt-water swamp, as a port city that could transfer goods between Olivine City and the Kanto region. There were concerns about the city sinking, that's why the sewers were open to the sea: to move water from the ocean away from the city."

I shook my head violently "It's still to dangerous theres-"

"What about the last two days has been 'safe' we were attacked inside a cabin, we were attacked in the truck as giant BUGS popped out of the GROUND and ambushed us, and very nearly creamed as we drove away by a hyper beam that would have disintegrated us had a DIFFERENT giant bug not rushed it and tackled it! Even if we can reach Ekruteak City, how do we know that its still standing when the land is every bit as dangerous as the sea!"

 _"_ _He has a point, you know."_

I was silent for the moment, giving Lawrence a chance to reach over and grab my shoulder "We don't know when or if Jenny will wake up. If this isn't something she can work herself out of on her own then she needs professional help, and at that point it isn't our choice what we do. We don't have the time or the security to make a drive around that mountain."

I looked to the ground, swallowing my discomfort at the thought of heading so close to the water, to a place that could very well be another Goldenrod. "You said 'drive around that mountain', so I assume that you have a way for us to get to Olivine City if the engine is fried as bad as we think."

"You catch on as fast as ever, don't you?" Lawrence said, grinning.

 **I lied in the A/N for the last one, sorry. I tried to get all the research I need for my story out of the way already, and for the most part, after sifting through the internet for a long time and comparing MRI's and diagrams of various insects' nervous systems (thrilling, I know) this chapter at least was ready. I've also been working on some ideas to bounce off of Cornova concerning this universe, which took longer than I thought to research and get the fine details down.**

 **As for this chapter itself, I think it turned out alright. It's hard to write an almost entirely action-based chapter from a first person point of view, because you have to take in account what the character is doing, feeling, and what is actually going on, and its a lot to balance.**

 **If you have any suggestions though, please let me know. I'm always happy to find ways to improve in my writing, so review and let me know what you think, eh?**


	9. Chapter 9: The End

Watching Lawrence riffle through the engine was like watching a painter snatch shapes off a canvas. It began slowly, then proceeded in extreme bursts as Lawrence dismantled the machine, clawing and burrowing his hands into the insides of the still warm engine.

The plan was simple enough- whatever failings the engine had suffered could be corrected, the parts of the engines of older vehicles were as hardy as they were rugged. After almost twenty minutes of digging and sorting various parts of different sizes on the ground in an organized chaos Lawrence stopped for a moment, frowned, and then gingerly removed a small piece of rubber with a long slit along the side and started grumbling "Damn this little thing".

"That's it?" I asked incredulously "That's the leak that overheated our engine?"

"It ran from the motor into the heater. This little split would have taken our used coolant and dropped it on the road instead of going back to the tank to be recycled." Lawrence chuckled "Can you get me your leather jacket and your knife? I'm going to make a temporary patch for this hose to last us until we reach Olivine, then we can find some stuff to do some real repairs."

I complied, beginning to remove my jacket even as I opened the door. As I exited I felt a deep, heavy feeling of worry stopped me, and I let my eyes wander about, eventually falling upon Jenny. Something about the way she sat felt deeply unnatural. As I approached her, the reason for this became clear; she was pale, her brow covered in sweat, and seemed to sit unnaturally still. Gravely concerned, I reached out and grabbed her wrist, checking for a pulse, only to confirm the worst of my suspicions.

"Shit! Shit! Lawrence, Jenny's pulse is gone!"

"What!" Lawrence bellowed, running to the cabin and checking himself "Fuck!"

Lawrence quickly unstrapped Jenny, laying her back on the road and began rapidly doing chest compressions while yelling obscenities. After fifteen seconds of slamming his hand against her diaphragm he placed his ear above her heart and attempted listened for the rhythm of life, muttering something along the lines of "You better be beating you son of a bitch."

Several seconds passed in silence before Lawrence reacted "FUCK!" Lawrence leapt up and paced back and forward, then back again before his eyes lit up "Crescent, keep up the chest compressions! I have an idea."

I spared only a second, a second longer than I should have, watching Lawrence run around the front of the car. He began digging through the engine again, but gone was the grace of an artist, this time he was like a wolf tearing the entrails of its prey. He did not care about the state of the barriers, only what was within, and it showed as his hands fumbled through different parts as he ripped them out and flung them behind him.

I kneeled down next to Jenny and began pumping her diaphragm, forcing blood to flow in place of her own heart. Ten seconds and fifteen pumps, twenty seconds and thirty pumps. Lawrence ran around the side of the car holding an orange box with two cables attached "How many volts does a modern defribulator put out?" He asked urgently.

I looked at him confused "It can fire up to two-thousand volts" I answered, eliciting a confused look from Lawrence. Understanding dawned on me as I did a double take on the box he held, and quickly corrected myself "But I think standard operating procedure is to start at 120 volts."

"Right," he replied, setting down the box and placed each of the two cables near Jenny's heart "Alright Rotom, you heard it, let her have it!"

Jenny jerked as 120 volts of electricity passed through her body, starting at the sinus node of her heart. Lawrence removed the two cables and set his ear above her heart. It was the perfect Hollywood defribulation, a patient plugged into a magical machine that could instantly revive someone, provided they were shocked enough times before they expired.

But then again, what the hell did Hollywood know?

"Damnit, it's not working!" Lawrence yelled, grabbing the makeshift defribulator and preparing to administer another shock.

"Stop!" I interrupted, pushing him away and resuming CPR "Don't be a dumbass! Electricity resets the heart, it doesn't restart it! Administering another shock this soon will only make it worse!" A crunching sound was heard as one or more of Jenny's ribs cracked, not helping my argument, but Lawrence seemed to trust me enough not to interfere, instead throwing down his orange box angrily, the orange and jittery form of a Rotom barely leaving the object before it crashed into the ground.

"God damn it! Is there anything I can do to help?" Lawrence asked, eyes fixed on Jenny's unconscious form.

 _'Damn it. I lost count. Screw it.'_

"If you want to help" I started "Put the engine back together. CPR isn't a cure, I'm only delaying death, hoping that the heart starts itself back up after that shock. Even if her heart does start back up she won't be in the clear, she'll need adrenaline, which means we need an emergency room. Which means we need a way to get there."

"That's it? That's all I can do?"

I leaned down and breathed into Jenny's mouth, resupplying her lungs with gas, then resumed pumping "Pick a god and pray. Quietly, it's hard to count in my head with so many distractions. You fix that machine I'll fix this one."

"Uh, right, right! I still need your jacket to repair the hose!" He said frantically, to which I obliged him, quickly removing my jacket, careful not to get my arms tangled in the sleeves, and threw it at him before resuming chest compressions.

* * *

Lawrence removed his hand from the engine, opening his fingers wide and stretching the muscles in his hand, grimacing, the tendons of his palm sore from the toiling within the heart of the truck. Though the fear was still evident in his eyes a small look of triumph passed his face. Lawarence cracked his knuckles and removed a cap from one of the tanks, peering into it. Unsatisfied, he hastily unstrung one of his shoelaces and dipped it into the tank. The small relief on his face faded as he withdrew the string and ran his fingers across it.

"The coolant tank is empty." He said "Did we bring any water? We have to refill it before we set out, or else the engine will overheat again."

I scoured my mind between pumps, thinking of what I had gathered whilst fleeing the pinsir. Of all the things that I had thought to bring with me, water was not my top priority. I hadn't expected the engine to give, and was gambling on us being able to replenish our stocks of water at a stream. Streams of peanut butter, honey, and bread seemed much more difficult to come by.

Obviously, it hadn't quite worked out.

"No. I could only carry so much, and I figured that since we were heading to the sea we could refill at a river on the way. How badly do we need it?"

"Brimstone and hellfire. We can always walk all the way to Olivine, or even better, fly! I've always wanted to fly, just like I've always wanted to get chased around by giant bugs while I run all…" Lawrence trailed off absentmindedly, almost in a daze before shaking himself to awareness and placing his hand on his forehead. "There was a polywag on the side of the road not that far away. They are probably docile, and they only stay around clean water, so I'll check that out, see if I can't get enough to run this thing safely."

I looked at him confused "Lawrence, the last thing we need is to be following those-"

"You need to not worry as much, stress is bad for your health. Live a little." Lawrence said, pulling a large tank out of the engine "Besides, we need that water, and you're a bit tied up now."

Truth to be told, I wasn't so worried about Lawrence's caution, but I was worried that if isolated, his focus would waiver. Not only now, but his reaction to the approach of Heracross- which turned out to not only be harmless, but a godsend, if what he had said about the Herculean-Beetles protecting us turned out to be true- echoed in my mind. The panic portrayed in his eyes, and in his subsequent actions was clear. In a group- that sort of panicked disregard for reason was a liability. But on his own with no one to baby-sit him, no one to make sure he didn't do anything stupid in a frenzy?

Regardless, it was a risk that had to be taken. All that besides, all other incidents showed him to be capable of acting on his own, and given his focus when Jenny's heart stopped, it seemed likely that the incident was a one-time occurrence; perhaps the bastard child of disorientation from the crash and some long-repressed fear of bugs.

I hoped as much.

"I concede, you're right." I said reluctantly, putting aside my fears and trying to reinvest faith in my first and most trusted (and as of right now, only) companion.

Said companion laughed and began gloating "I usually am! It shouldn't take long; the stream wasn't that far back. Auf wiedersehen jungen man!" With that gibberish farewell he spun on his heels, coolant tank in hand and began running back down the way we came.

I placed my ear on her chest still checking for a heartbeat. Disappointed for the umpteenth time, I breathed into the mouth again and began the compressions again, hoping that she hadn't flatlined, and that her heart was merely on idle. Then again, how much longer until Jenny had passed the point of no return?

* * *

My arms ached- one would think that such a simple action would be easy on the arms, but one would also be surprised to find their arms writhing and feeling as though they were falling off after the thirtieth pump, and I had no idea how many hundreds of pumps I had performed. I tried my utmost to ignore the pain, exacerbated by my already-injured shoulder. CPR-I somehow knew- could sustain a human cardiovascular system almost indefinitely, in the end, this struggle only boiled down to a battle of wills between myself, and her inactive sinus node. Had the situation been less urgent, I probably would have wondered how I knew all this, and speculated details of my hidden past, but my mind was empty of everything but the urge to continue CPR.

A movement in the bushes, and the sound of two heavy boots greeted my ears. Immediately I was wracked with worry. If Lawrence was already back it could only mean that something had gone wrong, which we could not afford.

Then came two things I was not expecting. Firstly, and unfamiliar voice. Secondly, the familiar sound of a gun's safety flicking off.

"Freeze! Hands in the air, now!"

I didn't even bother looking up "As tempting as that is it's more tempting to not let her die. So, you'll have to excuse me if I choose not to. And for the sake of all things logical, put that gun down, I couldn't raise a hand against you even if I DID have a death wish."

"Then you'll have to forgive me as well, better safe than sorry."

"If you seriously plan to shoot me I recommend you rethink your methods. It's a waste of a bullet, and these woods are filled with things that would love to know exactly where we are."

"I won't if you don't try anything, that's the best I can do."

I paused our banter to check Jenny's heart again, then replenished her air supply. "Is this a holdup?"

"Sorry, but yes."

 _'That settles that, I don't suppose I could appeal to his sense of sympathy?'_

"Please just leave us alone." I interrupted my begging with another mout-to-mouth, preparing suitably heart-wrenching fantasy "My wife and I just want to find somewhere safe to wait this out. We heard Olivine City is safe, and she has family there so we were headed there when we were attacked by Pinsir on our way out of Goldenrod. Please help us, or at least leave me be. My arms are tired-" I paused to check her heart and replenish her oxygen again, more for emotional effect than anything else, and then resumed compressions, this time with a furrowed brow and an exaggerated shaking in my arms as I bent my elbows in improper technique. "-and I've been trying for so long, I don't think she's going to make it. I don't know what I'm going to do! How can I live without her?"

The lie fell from my lips like honey, even if the need to beg tasted like ash. Lying was easy, making a lie believable was hard. It seemed I was proficient at both, and as I waited for his response, I worked to prepare the next.

"Here's what you do; make way for those of us that still have reasons to live."

"How can you be so heartless?" Even though my plea was harder to watch than a bad romance this reaction was true. He seemed to buy my ploy, but just didn't care.

"I'm sorry, but it's not my problem."

"Damn you then, I hope that this forest eats you alive." I growled angrily.

"How about this then." He said, his voice taking a new, dangerous inflection "Comply or I'll shoot her, then I'll shoot you."

I spat in anger, then for the first time looked at the highwayman- the definition of average. Average height, average build, short black hair, and the standard pale Johto skin.

There were however, two things that stood out about him. First was the sleek build of a submachine gun- clearly military with its carbon black coat, long magazine, tactical light, collapsible stock, pistol grip, tactical sights, and a switch on the side that had three settings that a fool could guess the purpose of.

 _"Safety. Three round burst. Fully automatic."_

The second was even more shocking than the first. His clothing consisted of a button up shirt and long pants covered in a pattern of small blue, black, and grey rectangles of various sizes that mashed together and overlapping. On his right leg a holster with a large and sleek handgun. A large backpack was slung over his back, appearing only half full, and a black vest covered the upper half of his abdomen, complete with tactical rigging that was filled with spare magazines, and the letters 'JMCDF'.

"You're a marine in the Johto defense force! I though you enlisted to serve the state and its people, not rob it!"

The marine payed me no heed, instead gesturing to the truck "Does it work?"

We could not afford to lose the truck, no matter what. I'd have to come up with a convincing lie "No, we lifted it on the outskirts of Goldenrod, it was abandoned and out of gas but we brought a jerry can with us. We didn't bother looking under the hood though. The previous owner took out the coolant tank, probably wanted to use it to carry water. We didn't realize it and we burned out the engine when we were fleeing the pinsir."

"You made it this far without any coolant?" He asked, suspicious.

 _'Think fast'_

I bent down and breathed more air into Jenny's lungs to buy time to think "There's a cold front coming through, and my wife is from the tropics of Hoenn. We were running the heat. Between the removal of heat from the engine and the cold weather it held together. Also, we mostly drove at night, so it was even cooler and we went slowly. You know, so we didn't hit something that would damage the tires."

The marine moved into the car and began bagging supplies "Is that where you came from, Goldenrod? What is it like there?"

"The sea is infested with man-eating pokemon. The whole city is dead, killed by electric pokemon within hours. The streets are roamed by krabby that scavenge from the dead and hunt any survivors. Below the streets Tentacruel travel the storm drain system."

"Figures. And the area around it? Any word from Violet City, Cherrygrove, New Bark town?" the man seemed unusually desperate for this, I tucked away this little detail for future use.

I didn't recognize any of those places, so I said the obvious "No, none. But around the city bug type pokemon wage constant war on one another and on rural humans."

The marine whistled, moving to the back of the truck "And how did the two of you survive all that?"

"We were visiting Hoenn for a family reunion. Jenny- my wife is from there, and I went to college there. We were supposed to fly to Olivine, but our plane had a fuel leak and we had to land right outside Goldenrod. There was a good view from up there."

"What happened to all the other passengers?"

"There were none, my wife is a certified pilot, and we rented a plane."

"Huh" The man said, coming back around the front of the car "So you are all on your own then, no one else?"

 _"Truth or lie? Half-truth."_

"We met someone else on the way out here, but he…" Again, I did mouth to mouth to buy time to think "didn't make it."

"Shame." The man said leveling his weapon at me again, and I suppressed a fearful shudder "We need to talk."

I gave nervous chuckle "Really, what else is new?"

The soldier frowned "Not small talk, about these" He said, holding my belt of pokeballs along with Jenny's, which I had neglected to remove from the car. "And that." He finished pointing at the gun on the ground by my side, Jenny's pistol.

"You want it? You can come and take it if you want. I can't stop you." I attempted to reason.

"Where you can tackle me? I don't think so." His gaze hardened, made more terrifying looking down the barrel of his gun.

"Now here's the thing, you seem like a pretty stand-up guy, and I want you to do well, really, I'm not looking to shoot you. But at the same time, I can't take a bullet in the back, or whatever in the hell these things can do to me" He emphasized by waving around the pokeballs. "So here's what's going to happen. You are going to grab the barrel of that gun with one hand and slide it over here. Then I'm going to walk back twenty steps in the direction you came from and drop these pokeballs in the bushes. After that I am going to run away. If I hear you moving to the pokeballs, I will turn around and shoot both of you. If I see you grab the gun the wrong way, I will shoot both of you. If you try to charge me while I'm picking up the gun, I will shoot both of you. Am I clear?"

I gulped visibly "Crystal."

"Good now grab the gun. Just like I told you to."

I pushed down on Jenny's diaphragm one last time and then slowly reached over to the gun, rapidly glancing between the trembling deserter and the pistol.

 _"Wait, look at his uniform!"_

 _'So NOW the invisible voice speaks up? Come on!'_ I wasn't sure if I was more troubled that the voice has chosen not to speak up until now, or that I was begging a disembodied voice in my head for advice.

 _"Look!"_

I obliged, letting my eyes linger on the deserter's uniform, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Military standard, well taken care of, no rips or tears, no frayed edges. Befitting of a soldier.

' _Wait a minute!'_

The deserter's finger twitched, coming just short of the trigger and then looked at me annoyed "What?"

I withdrew my arm and looked at him confused "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes you did, and it almost got your ass shot. What is it?"

"Your uniform, it's very well maintained, you haven't been out and around all that long, have you? And your vest looks heavy, you wouldn't want to wear it unless you were fighting something. But you didn't know I was here, did you? You were too loud, and you would have left the safety of you off."

I realized I had stopped chest compressions too long, and once again resumed "This is your first day out and about, isn't it? You were a marine stationed at a military base, but you didn't like the conditions after shit hit the fan, so you stole equipment and ran away a few hours ago. Please, tell me where it the base is, we might be able to get there in time to save her."

"I'd recommend against it, but your wife looks screwed otherwise, though I'm not sure how much good it will do you." The deserter sighed "Alright, I left a compass in your car, already have one on myself. The base is in a straight-line west of here. It's on top of the hill overlooking the sea, not far from Olivine itself, and they are accepting refugees, but they don't know what to do with them with limited rations. I don't know if they'll help your wife."

"At least it's something" I assured "How is Olivine?"

"So far it's been left alone. Ships can't come or leave without being sunk by pokemon though, so our aircraft carrier is docked until we figure out what to do."

"Ok, the gun now."

"Right yeah, they won't let you keep the gun so hand it over now, just like I told you. Wouldn't want to die before you get there." He emphasized his point by switching the gun to fully automatic.

For the second time, I slowly reached to the pistol, taking it by the snout. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, watching him tremble nervously. I slid the gun on the ground towards him, and he slowly walked up to grab it, stall all nerves and jitters.

"Hey Cresc-"

The deserter almost jumped in the air, startled, his finger immediately slamming the trigger, and I reeled back, feeling as though I had been hit in the gut by a fastball. I slumped onto the ground as the deserter spun, catching Lawrence in his crosshairs as the unfortunate engineer's face contorted into shock. The gun rattled off again, and Lawrence too fell to the ground, dropping the tank of water as he fell.

The deserter looked just as surprised, as if he couldn't fathom what had happened as he held the smoking gun. Several seconds passed before the shock settled into panic, and he slung the gun over his shoulder and sprinted down the road, probably due to meet an equally grisly end at the hands of the pinsir.

I managed to pull myself up to my feet, shocked and confused, not entirely sure what had transpired. I made my way over to the tank of water, sore but not terribly so. It was not until I attempted to lift the tank that I noticed an intense burning sensation in my stomach. I looked down and saw three red stains on my abdomen, on my right side, below the ribs, and then I fully realized _'I've been shot!'_ I felt sick and I fought the urge to crumble, standing on my two feet and limping towards the engine in a final, valiant last stand against my doom that I knew to be futile. With each step the burning increased in magnitude until I reached the engine.

I ignored the excruciating pain as I lifted the tank into the car, connecting the one loose hose and slammed the hood. I began to make my way to the driver side of the car, now fully hunched over in pain. I dragged myself into the driver seat and searched for the keys, before realizing they were in my hand. Choosing not to question it, I put it into the ignition and turned feeling relief as the engine hummed. I could go anywhere now, Goldenrod, Olivine, or even those places- Cherrygrove, Violet, New Bark. It was liberating, but I couldn't help but feel that I was forgetting something important.

And then suddenly my high ended, leaving only grim reality. Jenny and Lawrence, and even I myself would die here. I knew this from the moment I fell over, maybe before we got in the truck this morning, maybe even before I woke up six days ago, without memories and baptized in a blood in a city of ghosts.

We weren't far from the base, I could remember, just west. I had to try to save as many of us as possible. I was struck by the sad matter of fact that Jenny was almost surely dead- I could not recall how long it had been since I had been shot, but her heart had been stopped for too long, with or without my compressions she would have been dead by now. There was no false hope here, not anymore, there was nothing to be done for her.

Lawrence on the other hand, could still be saved though. I was still alive, after all, and I had been much closer to the deserter when shot. He may be unconscious, but depending on where he was hit, he might even have a better chance of surviving than I did.

It was decided then, I was going to try to bring Lawrence with me, at least. I was almost surely dead, even if we did arrive, there was nothing to gain from leaving the only one of us to survive on the ground to bleed to death.

I opened the door, and to my surprise the pain in my abdomen faded. Taking this as a good omen, I tried to step out onto the ground. I took one step and then fell on my face, though I did not feel it. I was in shock. This was it. The grand finale. The destination of all walks of life.

I looked at the ground with fascination, noticing for the first time how colorful the dirt was, millions of grains of dirt and sand, each one a different shape, a different shade of brown or gray. Beautiful. I felt like I could study the dirt forever, but there was something else I noticed. Like millions of pieces of paper rubbing together. Curious, I rallied my strength to prop myself on my side so I could see it.

I almost gasped. So much green, complimented by yellows, reds and browns- but mostly green. The leaves were beautiful, and then shifted, by mere millimeters, all at once, casting a mosaic of light on the forest floor.

What was it Lawrence had said to me? Learn to live? Not worry as much? If I stopped seeing death around every corner, saw a forest for the trees instead of the many ambushes awaiting us within it, would I have noticed all this? The songs of the wind? The rhythm of dirt crunching beneath someone's weight? The many shades of brown? The different shapes of leaves? Even pain was not so unpleasant, when you stopped and felt it.

I heard my heart thumping rapidly and knew this moment was drawing to a close, as I entered the final stage of shock. I wondered, I had pretended to be married to Jenny to save us, and failed, but would I have minded it? Heck being married to anyone? Loving and being loved?

A question that would never be answered. I could no longer hear my heart, the wind, and my vision grew darker. This morning if you asked me if there was an afterlife I would have said that any world this terrible would never allow it. But now, seeing the world for the first time with wonder, not horror I could not help but wonder. Was there a heaven? Would I go there? Or in my past did I do something irredeemable, and go to hell? Or was there something else entirely? Or nothing at all? Had I not remembered I was dying I would have been excited, much to see and discover on this last journey, if it was the last journey.

The edges of my vision faded, and I turned onto my back, taking in an infinity of blue, with a single round, bright object breaking the uniformity. There was something beyond I knew, though I could not remember what. I could not recall what it was called, but it was art in its own right, but what was beyond it…who knows.

It faded to black quickly, and even that had its beauty, a sense of peace and order. And there was one sound breaking through the emptiness a voice that I could not recall. It was there for me when I needed it, I knew, and I had trusted it before. I listened to it, making sense of the sounds…

 _"Don't worry, you'll be fine. It's all going to be alright."_

And I believed it.


	10. Chapter 10: Dead Man Walking

**Long time no speak, I've actually had this chapter for about a month now, but just hadn't brought myself to proofread it. But what can I say? I finally have a free time and I only pulled two all-nighters this week, and after Cornova got busy on his/her/its stories (four new chapters for four different stories in four hours? Sheesh, good on you!), I felt a bit inspired. Its been a while, so I went back and edited the last chapter, so it reads a bit better, you should check it out, if you need a refresher. Thanks to Easter, I now have four days off in a row to make up for all my slacking off in class and writing, and the next chapter is halfway done. I plan on updating both of my ongoing stories (shameless plug: I'm experimenting with a new third person narrative with Fire Emblem- between changing skies, I've heard good things about it, and I want to know your thoughts on it.) in the next three days. Anywho, if you're still here congrats, as a reward, without further ado let the story resume.**

I did not remember what it was like to lay there in the dirt, curled up in fetal position, dying as a victim of a botched robbery. That much is unsurprising; it was a particularly traumatic experience, but then again, my life was rich with those. I may have benefitted had I remembered the experience in the months following it, or it may have broken me. In the moments my mind was not filled with waking nightmares I would fantasize- what if? The world we found ourselves in felt grossly unnatural, like it simply was not meant to be, it seemed more likely that the status quo would remain, for time immemorial. Where would I be then? Would I be a paramedic in Johto, trying to save money for a little sister to go to college? Or something more sinister, trying to take life one day at a time, with the love of my life at my side? Or perhaps neither- perhaps I would have wasted away in a perfectly blissful life, alone, and neither particularly happy nor upset over it.

Just who was I? Why me? What in my past made me able to survive? Or was it because I didn't have a past?

Who or what I was, or the life I lived, was irrelevant though, the same could be said of the what-ifs. My fleeting fantasies were just those: fantasies. I considered myself to be quite the oddball, even still. After all, how many people alive could claim to have lost their memory on the day of the apocalypse? If only I knew, only the strangely competent and incredibly fanatical could survive the shattering. When I would once again find myself waking up in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, I would see more of what I was not in the faces of those I was thrusted into the center of, more so than I would have ever discovered by watching myself.

Even when I felt like I was swept up in events greater and more dangerous than myself, I grew to consider myself fortunate. Its far easier to be a leaf flowing in the wind than a rock in the stream.

* * *

August 24th

The smell of disinfectants tickled the end of my nose, drawing me out of the all-encompassing fog that clouded my mind. I focused on the smell, grasping for any tangible sense that could lead me from my confusion.

I slowly pulled myself from my stupor, the disinfectant-tinged air filled my lungs, mixed blood, and something else- faint traces of a sickeningly sweet smell I couldn't put my finger on. I was alive, of this I was fairly certain-unless there was some odd realm in the afterlife that smelled like an operating room. I opened my mouth to take in a hefty breath of air, but paused. My lips were parched and rigid, so much so that the mere act of opening my mouth opened small cuts in the corner of my mouth. The air was no better, dry beyond dry, and the air dragged over my tongue like sandpaper.

I opened my eyes slowly, only to find a room filled with darkness. I moved my arms behind me attempting to push myself up, only for pain to erupt within my stomach. I grunted, and lowered myself again. I recalled standing in the path of a submachine gun, and meeting the only fate that could be expected in such an unfortunate circumstance. It seemed all I could do for the time being was wait, and so wait I did.

It was not long after that I heard a door open, and two people walked into the room. The first was a man that appeared halfway through life, a face of extreme apathy, and dull hazel eyes filled with boredom. He slouched with an odd posture, as if shrugging off a heavy burden.

The second was an oddity for the season. It was at least six feet tall and covered from head to foot with thick clothing; a thick green jacket with a hood drawn over his head, an olive scarf, a pair of black goggles between the two covering the entirety of his face. Sturdy khakis covered his legs, and a pair of black boots and leather gloves guarded his extremities from view, such that no skin was exposed. It appeared to be a man, though it was difficult to tell through all the clothing.

The second person noticed I was awake before the first, and nudged him with his elbow and tilted his head towards me. The first man took notice, and then addressed the first "Make yourself useful for once and get some soft food and water and bring it. After that run through the two others, I'll handle the dead man."

The covered person faced the doctor for a moment before turning back out the door without a word. The middle-aged man pulled a chair up to my bed and waited patiently.

I pointed at my throat and rasped "Water."

The man said nothing, but moments later the clothed person returned with a large canteen of what I assumed to be water. The middle-aged man took the canteen and propped my head up, slipping the canteen between my lips and allowing a small amount to pour out.

"Not too fast you'll choke." I complied and swallowed in small sips, but before long all of the water was gone.

"More." I asked but the man only shook his head.

"That's all you're getting for now."

I nodded my head and resigned myself to it. My mouth and throat were wet so I could speak again. I could feel the cogs in my head start turning again.

"There's two others here? Is one of them a man with blond hair and a gunshot wound? Or a woman with turquoise hair and a concussion?"

The man frowned and shook his head "Nothing that exciting, the other two are old arrivals with minor injuries. We don't get many gunshot wounds around here for me to work on."

"How did I get here then? Who brought me?"

"To be honest, I don't know and I don't care. People change hands here faster than I can keep track of, so as far as I'm concerned you didn't exist until the moment you were placed on the bed needing someone to cut you open and you're dead to me the moment you walk out or get carried out in a body bag."

The man was rude and seemingly ill-tempered, but I figured he was a surgeon, and somehow I knew that of all things to become after being a surgeon for so long, ill-tempered was a blessing compared to the alternatives. I suppressed my concern for my two companions for the moment, I didn't have time to address my grief, though denial would only last so long.

"Tell me then, what do you know?"

The man cracked a sly grin, and reached into his pocket absent-mindedly as if reaching for something, but he scowled as he withdrew it empty. He scowled, but nevertheless he placed his hand on his chin as if recollecting.

"You came here couple days back, two bullet wounds in the abdomen. One was just a graze, but the other cracked a rib and ruptured your intestines. Lucky you, probably lost more blood through the graze than the intestines, but then again, instead of an easy death you get a long, miserable death from infection."

"So, am I going to get a long, miserable death from infection?"

"No, we took care of it. We didn't know where the bullet went, so we cut you up a bit, found the wound, shoved a hot piece of iron in it to piece your guts together, sewed you up, then pumped enough antibiotics to make a germaphobe swoon."

"Why go through the effort?"

"Well, we didn't use anesthesia, so it was good that you were nearly dead or you might have died from the pain outright. It was still expensive but we had to try something, right? Nothing more valuable than a human life."

I looked at the man as he wore a convincing smile, or what I thought was supposed to be a convincing smile. Instead it looked like an upside-down frown, and so forced I expected his face to go red with strain.

"You're a surgeon, act like one. Why did you people really bother saving me, and where am I for that matter?"

The not- smile faded from his face for a moment, and was replaced one a little more genuine, though on his face it appeared alien, and almost hostile, even though well intentioned. "Pretty sharp for someone who's been under for two days, well if you really want to know you're in a navy-oh, my bad 'Johto Marine Civil Defense Force'- base turned refugee camp, right outside of Olivine City. As for why we bothered, well, wanderers like you that are lucky enough to stumble onto our little patch of land are our only source of intelligence about the outside world right now. I imagine that I'll have to interrogate you on the state of whatever place you came from and submit a report to the commander, or maybe he'll do it himself when he gets a chance."

I nodded "Do you want to take my statement now, or wait for the commander?"

He shrugged "Depends, where are you coming from?"

"The heart of Goldenrod City."

The surgeon whistled "Geeze, figure the commander is going to want to look at you himself then."

I tried not to be disheartened by the fact that no one had come from that direction, after all, the fact that meant that no refugees have come here did not mean none existed. It still provided a fair warning about those that thought to travel through the Johtoan peninsula.

I cleared my throat, "So how long until the Commander can interrogate me?"

The doctor glanced at a clock on the wall- reading about 5:30 "Not for another hour or so, he's probably micromanaging everyone. For the time being let's see if you can move, the surgery did a number on you, and we need to see how long until we put you to work."

The surgeon got up and fetched something; a cane. He offered an arm to help me up, and I accepted it and rose reluctantly, even as my stomach protested with sharp bursts of discomfort. I slowly and carefully swung my legs over the cot. The surgeon eased me onto my two feet, and I was careful to use the cane to keep the pressure off my abdomen.

The surgeon turned his attention away from me and shouted elsewhere "Hey, I have a way for you to make yourself useful!"

There was a shuffling as the seasonal-oddity returned to the room, walking, skulking quietly, and turned its dark goggles towards the surgeon.

"Take this kid down to the tents, help him ask around for those friends of his that he was travelling with. Let him get used to walking again, but don't let him hurt himself, got it?"

The man nodded in response and gestured for me to follow him, I glanced between the two doctors, and then followed the fully-clothed man with small stumbles.

* * *

The military base was in an odd, cluttered state. Chain linked fences topped with barbed wire surrounded the camp on each side. Between the fences and the outermost buildings there was an amount of empty space, designed to keep invaders from gaining a foothold inside the camp in the unlikely chance of an attack, and to allow the soldiers in the watchtowers to more easily monitor the inside of the camp. Then came the less important buildings, the dining halls, the offices, and other buildings with similar functions. At the heart of the camp was the heart of its purpose- war. Barracks, armories, warehouses of rations, detainment centers, and modest airstrip.

It was on this airstrip that the refugees stayed. A small sea of tents, around a hundred in all occupied every inch of pavement, and then some of the dirt beside it. Near the entrance to the sea of tents there was a large platform, where a couple of bored soldiers sat lazily, occasionally glancing to a large pile of crates and an equally large pile of what appeared to be broken handcuffs. The camp was mostly empty, people seemed to be just returning from whatever labors the day had in store for them. People seemed to pay us little heed as they slowly filled the camp, some simply not caring enough to pay attention to our little duo. Other's however, avoided us like the plague; seeing us and turning back, some becoming very interested in what they were doing, whether it was talking or placing one foot in front of the other or suddenly remembering that important thing that they had left in their tent. My companion didn't seem bothered by this, though it would have been hard to tell if he had.

The man slowed us to a stop next to a head of red hair, suspended in two pig tails, sitting patiently outside of a tent facing the sky, not seeming to notice us. The man waited patiently for a moment before clearing his throat. Finally the girl took notice of us turning towards us, speaking with an odd accent that I could not place "Scar, is that you? You shouldn't sneak up on me like that!"

The hooded man responded in an accent much the same, though slower, and much deeper "What would you have me do? Wear a bell?"

The girl laughed "Somehow I doubt that would help. Who's this you have with you?"

It was only now that I really looked at the girl, taking in her features. She appeared to be around my age, probably a little younger (Again, I wondered how old I was, I had nothing other than intuition to base it upon, it was somewhat surreal, trying to get to know yourself), she might have been considered beautiful, but she was filthy, covered in a thin layer of dirt and dust, granted I was covered in all that and blood as well. Her face was soft, and she wore her smile naturally. Were she standing up I imagine she would have been much shorter than myself, and I was hardly tall.

But when I looked into her eyes, nothing seemed to look back. Her irises pale and clouded, and I understood now how she had not noticed us, and how she could stand to stare at the sun lost in thought, and I shuddered, her eyes eerily similar to another pair I had seen, the first I had seen in fact.

Before I could answer the man, Scar responded "He is no one-er" He fumbled with his words a bit here, as if he had lost track of them "Came here with…can we…?"

The girl interrupted his sentence with a rapid series of words in a language I could not understand. The man, much more at ease, responded in kind, seeming to regain his footing in the conversation. The girl nodded in understanding, and they exchanged a few more words, as I sensed the topic drifting away from me. The man seemed to regain his confidence and scratched his chin (or where I assumed his chin was), seemingly confounded by whatever she said. I felt the conversation shift back to me briefly, and then he addressed me in perfect Common "Sorry, it is rude, I know, but it is easier for me sometimes. Stay with her, I have business I must attend to, she can answer any of your questions. I will come back for you when I am finished and we will return to the…medical room?"

"Clinic." The girl chirped.

"Yes, the clinic."

"And what about my friends?"

"If they are here, they are not going anywhere. Whether you find them today or tomorrow is unimportant. It is better that you heal slowly and not strain yourself looking for them, but I shall inquire about any new arrivals, if it would make you feel better."

I sighed in resignation, realizing how powerless I was in this situation. "Please do."

Scar took this as permission and left silently, fading into the sea of tents in seconds. I measured up what little I could gather about him from the conversation, I was in unfamiliar territory, and for some reason I was did not feel safe nor welcome at this base. That said the voice of danger was silent, so I presumed the danger was not immediate.

Realizing I was beginning to personify a voice in my head, and beginning to trust said voice, I thought it was a good time to derail my train of thought. "Something about him rubs me the wrong way." I muttered.

The girl turned to me, her face disapproving "He's weird, but he's a good person. He saved me and a lot of other people when, well, you know. Anyways, where are my manners?" She extended her hand towards me, "I'm Rui, nice to meet you. And you are?"

I looked at her hand for a second before I realized she was offering it to shake, and I did so "I go by Crescent."

"Wow, cool name, did your parents give it to you?"

Friendly as she was, I was uncomfortable disclosing my-admittedly brief and unlikely- life story with a near-stranger. I bit my lip and chose my response carefully "I chose it for myself."

"Huh," she said, not appearing completely convinced "It sounds like there has to be a cool story behind it, but there's you can tell me later, not much to do other than exchange stories anyways. For now, I think I should tell you how things work here."

"I'm sorry," I interrupted her "But aren't you blind?"

Rui didn't miss a beat, responding in an almost cheerful tone "Yup, for just more than a week now. Scar said it probably has something to do with a pulse of high-frequency radiation from the shattering interacting with the neurons in my brain, or something like that. He said a lot of really complicated things but that's the gist of it, he doesn't think it's permanent, but you never know."

I nodded slowly, despite all appearances, Scar was a doctor of some sort, so if he said something along those lines, it was probably the closest thing to the truth I would have for some time "By the shattering you mean August 16th?"

"Yeah, that's what Scar called it. No one else thought of something else to call it, so it kind of just stuck."

"Anyways, enough about Scar. Tell me whatever you can about this place."

Rui frowned and stuck her tongue out at me "I'm blind, not stupid. Besides, Wes told me about it."

I chose to ignore this Wes character for the time being "Of course, I didn't mean to imply anything."

"Liar."

I found myself frowning at her childish behavior, which seemed so out of place given the current state of the world. Then again, it seemed like she had been at the camp since the beginning, of the series of unfortunate events that brought me here, and blind to boot, I was uncertain if she understood the full extent of how badly Johto was royally screwed "Fine, I apologize, can you tell me now?"

Rui nodded "Right, starting three days ago, everyday soldiers take the refugees to a nearby river that is full of magikarp, and they try to fish them with spears and nets, they come back around now every day, and they got to the rationing station, where they receive food and they put a metal bracelet on your wrist to show that you've already eaten. They collect the bracelets in the morning when they give us a small breakfast, same idea. I think soldiers are sent out of the camp every day to find news about Johto. Scar says the commander is trying to find a more sustainable way for us to get food and put the rest of the refugees to work, but until then most of us just sit around here all day. Oh, important! At night, no one is allowed to leave their tents, no matter what."

I nodded in understanding, fishing was an odd attempt to sustain the camp, but the commander was probably reluctant to send men into the woods, where who-knows-what could be waiting. But fall was starting to come in full swing, and felt particularly cold. At some point the camp would have to send soldiers to the farms in the area to collect the crops before they went to waste. The curfew was nothing out of the ordinary, but the way she said it seemed to imply something other than the norm. "When you say no one…"

Rui paused for a moment, almost as if making sure no one was listening in "They want us to think that the guards are patrolling around at night, but I can tell that they don't. I'm not sure why, from what I understand bandits and thieves were a problem before me, Wes, and Scar got here, so it seems really weird."

And weird it was. The fact that people had resorted to banditry so soon was surprising, but then again, I had experienced it first hand, and it made my unfortunate run in with the deserter slightly less random, though the haunting encounter still confused me. "Is desertion a problem here?"

"Like, with the soldiers? Not since we got here, I don't think, but Scar spends more time with the soldiers and knows more about the camp administration then I do. You should ask him on the way back."

"Are you sure he could tell me if I asked? His grasp of Common seems a bit shaky."

"He probably speaks better Common than you do, even if it seems like he's having a hard time with it right now. He's from Orre, and since Common is mostly based on Unovan, he should be able to speak it perfectly."

"Then what was that language you talked to him with? He spoke it much better than common, from what I could tell."

"It was Orrian, as in the original Orrian tribes. He's from one of their desert tribes from what I could tell, and my grandfather is the last sage of one of his tribes, so he made me learn it when I was little. And take it easy on him, okay? He seems to be really distracted, I think that's why his speech seems rough."

"Why do you assume he'll be my problem?"

"I'm the nurser here…"

I jolted in surprise when his voice appeared behind me, without warning, eliciting a similarly sudden jolt of pain in my abdomen. Rui only smiled "It's nurse, Scar, nurse."

"What did I say?"

"Nurser."

Scar gave a soft grunt "I'm tired, I guess. I've done what I've had to do, we should return to the…clinic, before the commander shows up."

Rui seemed surprised "Huh, already? What did you want to talk to Wes about?"

"Nothing interesting, mostly exchanging information. I heard that cloud cover is rolling in soon, so curfew is getting called early. He should be back soon." He turned back to me, and said again "We should go before the commander shows up."

I nodded absentmindedly and began to hobble back with him. Despite Rui's advice, I did not question Scar, for he was about as inclined to speak to me as ever, and my thoughts were occupied.

More people flooded into the camp, and I noticed as people gathered around the stand that I saw earlier, eager to grab their rations. Oddly enough, those that came were quickly shooed away apologetically, and the soldiers were hastily packing up their supplies.

I put my mind to work, analyzing anything, overanalyzing everything, planning, plotting, anything to keep my mind from wandering. It was a new environment, and I needed to adjust quickly yes, but I knew that if I did not focus, I would think about my last companions.

They were alive, they had to be. No matter if logic said otherwise. The last thing I needed as to start thinking of the many reasons they should still be alive as excuses.

* * *

When we arrived, the nurse claimed he was needed elsewhere and excused himself. The commander did not come that day, as the nurse had warned, a thick cloud cover had come overhead not long before we arrived back, but the clinic was without windows, so I could not know when the last vestiges of light faded from the sky. I forwent dinner- probably for the best, with my guts still recovering. I took in the room and memorizing its layout. Knowing I was alone, I turned off the lights, draping the room in pitch black, and limped my way back to the cot. I rested my head on the pillow, and hoped for a night without terror.

 **Give me your thoughts on this, I know the story is taking an unexpected turn, and I want to know how I can improve my writing and plot-development to accommodate what I hope will grow into a fantastic story.**


	11. Chapter 11: 'Safe'

**Uh, yeah, been a while life's been kinda rough recently, my mom got a debilitating injury this summer, which resulted in constant, intense pain all Summer. She's mostly better now, but I spent all Summer taking care of her and helping her get around, and hearing your mother scream in pain on a daily basis can kill motivation a bit, so, now you know where I'm coming from. Looking on the bright side, she's almost completely rec** **overed, just in time for me to get get my ass kicked by college...so yeah.**

 **I've had all of this chapter done for a while now, I just haven't proofread it, but I think I just need to get something out to y'all. Just a little somethin somethin I threw together a while ago. I'm going to start trying to write more often now, but that's on top of two lab papers I'm going to be starting soon, on top of the usual workload, so if I ain't writing this, at least you know I'm writing something.  
**

 **Enough of my griping though, hope you enjoy, and review... and all that cool stuff.**

* * *

I did not sleep soundly that night.

I awoke in the middle of the night, the urge to scream alive in my throat and my heart beating viciously against my chest. The sudden distress and strain my heart put on my body brought a wave of pain through my stomach. In my still half-asleep stupor, I wasted no time assuming fetal position, and placing a hand over my stomach.

I howled in pain again, feeling the only-recently-sealed injury inflicted on me by my Noctowl rip itself open, and finally I reached my threshold for pain. I screamed without restraint, howling and rolling off of the cot, landing hard on my injured arm. I thrashed and flailed, kicking and striking at the dark, in my frenzy. A sudden movement caught my attention, and I felt a hand clasp itself over my mouth, along with a sudden and frantic 'shushing'.

Such an act in my frantic state though, only led me to flail and cry out even more. Whatever had clamped onto my mouth tried to quiet me for a moment longer, then I fell silent as something hard struck me upon the temple, leaving me stunned.

Then there was a crash, like a door being slammed open, and the thing beside me was gone, embroiled in some sort of violent struggle. I immediately curled into a ball and rolled myself into a corner-my agony forgotten- trying to go unnoticed in the darkness. The sounds grew more frantic, more rapid- angry flapping, like a small flock of provoked spearow could be heard, interrupted by the loud thumps of something being struck with great force. There was a brief pause, with what sounded like a drawer being opened, and then the struggle resumed.

The sounds concluded suddenly, two heavy objects hit the floor, from where I heard a rasping, like that of a dying animal. One final 'thump' sounded, followed by a crunching and it was silent. I didn't dare move a muscle, so far unnoticed by the two-now one- person party. I listened as the door was shut as quietly as possible, and then as something heavy was dragged along the floor.

I did not move, I did not breathe. I waited. And waited. And waited. An-

* * *

It was Scar that woke me the next morning, covered in blood. He explained in his broken common that there was an accident, and an area that had previously been thought to be safe outside of the camp had been infested with bug Pokemon. None of it was his, but he had to amputate a soldier's arm, for some reason he either could not or would not explain.

He helped me from the floor, and walked me through a short series of stretches and exercises, which I completed with great ease. Scar commented I would be able to soon be able to join the tents, but would still be safe from the labor. He instructed me to wait on my cot, the commander would arrive shortly to interrogate me.

The commander was a completely unassuming man, not the sort that you would expect to be leading the only known military force in the region in times of great strife. Not the sort that you would trust with your life. And- if the way that most of the soldiers looked at him in disgust when he wasn't looking- not the sort of man you enjoy taking orders from.

Much like the commander himself, his 'interrogation' was nothing spectacular. He came, he asked questions about where I had been and the condition of those places when I was there. Attempts to bait him into revealing useful information-though subtle- were fruitless. When I was upfront and simply asked him about the state of the world he refused to answer. He simply sat, and listened.

When I began to speak of the deserter he interrupted me, adamant- almost frustrated for some reason "There are no deserters in the Johto Defense force. You were shot by a typical bandit." It was an obvious lie, and the commander was not convincing, but he didn't need to be-it was a warning. I finished my story, and he promptly left, leaving me alone with only my thoughts and a ringing in my ears I had not noticed during the interrogation.

It was several hours more before I received another visitor, and I spent the time testing my range of motion; slowly rolling my shoulder and doing short crunches to find my limits. Surprisingly the pain in my abdomen had almost entirely faded, and though there was a very clear point in my shoulder movements that I was on the threshold of great pain, it did not impede on my ability to move at all, and I found a sleeping position that would prevent last night's incident in the future.

After this, I exercised. My time in bed had left me sluggish, and now with a clear idea of my limits, it was time to tell my body to get back in gear. Pushups, jogging in place, stretches, juggling, anything that would put me back at the top of my game. I worked without much thought, but I knew why I began obsessing about my fitness.

I had died. Jenny and Lawrence were missing and I had died. If I was faster, stronger, more observant, things would most likely have not changed. I had operated at the capacity of my wit, fended off attackers much stronger than myself. I could not outrun a bullet, but next time I'd have a better chance.

I nearly choked on bitterness, at the thought of this. What rotten luck had led me here. We happened to accidently stumble upon a nest of aggressive pinsir, one of our numbers landed in such a way as to fall unconscious, and our vehicle had just managed to break down. Then our wounded friend's heart stopped, demanding my attention. At the very moment I was distracted, when I was expecting Lawrence to return, a deserter had wandered from this base, at such a time that lead him to run into us, whom he decided to rob. At the exact moment things were most tense, Lawrence shocked the deserter, and we were both shot for it.

It was a joke, almost. A sick, elaborate joke. But where at the end of a joke there might just be a punchline- or a bunch of friends jumping out from dark corners, throwing confetti with reckless abandon while laughing- there was just me, on the verge of crippledom.

That was the way of this world, I supposed. Sometimes Lady Luck was a bitch.

My musings and workout were interrupted by Scar, guiding Rui by the hand into the room. Scar had since (thankfully) changed clothes, and the reek of iron that followed him had faded. Rui wore the same clothes as the day before, unsurprisingly. Scar guided Rui into the center of the room, and then fetched her a chair, before retreating to a wall to lean against. I was unsure how to react, I merely went to sit at the edge of my cot in silence, waiting for Scar to speak.

Surprisingly, Rui was the one to break the silence "So Crescent, what did you think of the Commander?"

I turned my attention to Rui, considering my answer "He wasn't what I was expecting. Scar, why are you here?"

Scar didn't move, but I clearly heard his response through his scarf "It's easier to kid garden you this way."

 _'Kid Garden?'_

Rui was quick to correct Scar "Babysit Scar, not Kindergarten."

"There's a difference?"

"Kindergarten is...it's like school, to teach kids how to make friends. Babysitting is just watching kids and taking care of them…it's a much smaller group that typically knows one another. Think like a pidgey sitting on the egg."

Scar mumbled something unintelligible -probably in his native language- to which Rui nodded and gave a thumbs up before turning her attention back to me "Underwhelming, inept, and as charming as a sack of bricks: no, a sack of bricks is way more charming than that-"

Scar cut her off in his own language, his tone scolding. Rui only laughs "There's no one else is here, who's going to tell him? You?"

Scar begins to respond, but this time I cut in "Common Scar, please, I have no idea what's going on."

Scar doesn't make any move to acknowledge me, but his next words are in Common "Could be Rui, besides, he lets us here when he could have sent us away, we owe him respect for that much."

I cut in again, not wanting to be excluded from the conversation "There is one thing though. He seemed angry, frustrated for some reason when he was here. I complied, did exactly as he said, but he still grew angry. Has something happened?"

Rui turned her milky eyes to Scar, forfeiting her chance to respond. A moment of silence ensued, while Scar thought "He has made a habit of using certain painkillers without need. Could be stressed to be so close to where we stored them."

Rui interjected "No one really understands the commander though. I heard the other day that he yelled at one of his body guards for something he didn't say. Just started yelling out of the blue, it's kinda creepy. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

"You hear a lot of things Rui, don't be so quick to believe them. The commander is stressed, I imagine. He never expected this kind of responsibility, let alone in times like this."

Rui fumed, and then changed the subject to anything and everything. I had more luck participating in the conversation here. But they talked around me, more often than not, like how a stream goes around a rock. Though they came to me, not for one minute did I have any doubts that I was the invader.

* * *

Scar took me and Rui around the camp again, walking us through the sea of tents, at the edge of where the soldier quarters were, and then to one point near the outer fence before a soldier saw us and shooed us back to the center of the base. Scar then returned me to the infirmary, and feeling as though I had made great strides in my recovery, I decided to take a nap.

When I awoke, I was not alone. Sitting in the corner of the room was a man preoccupied by the rolled paper stub in his mouth, which smoked profusely, and smelled nothing like tobacco. I was a little on edge, as I thought that Scar typically had clinic duty, and I didn't recognize this stranger. I sat looking at him in an uncomfortable silence, as he sat content with the stub in his mouth, seemingly oblivious to my quiet gaze.

Impatience and curiosity got the better of me, prompting me to give a loud mock yawn, to which he gave a brief glance in my direction, before turning his attention back to smoking.

"Who are you?"

The man leaned forward in his chair, taking the stub from his mouth and dropping it on the floor "Forget me already? Well, your mental acuity wasn't all that at the time, I suppose no one could blame you after going through being under for that long."

His average, nondescript face finally registered for me; it was none other than the doctor that put me under the knife. But…

"I thought that you were one field duty. Shouldn't Scar be on clinic watch?"

The doctor appeared to be confused, then agitated "You mean that idiot westerner? The fool went off and pissed off the commander, and he got thrown in the pit for three days."

"The pit?"

"Exactly what it sounds like; a little hole in the ground over by the armory with a wooden lid. It's about as harshly punished as you can get without being shot. They toss a bottle of water and lock you up in there until they feel you've learned your lesson."

Barbaric, but wouldn't it just be easier to kick them out of the camp?

"What did Scar do that was so bad as to merit THAT?"

The doctor shrugged nonchalantly, pulling something I could not make from his pocket before responding "The commander doesn't need much reason to go off on the fool. The boss man is a racist, a nationalist, an isolationist, and every other kind of ist under the sun. Still bitter about the last war I suppose, never mind that Kanto was the aggressor, or we're lucky they didn't salt our soil and burn us all at the stake after what we pulled, or that he and all his ilk got educated in Unova-the brats.

There was a lot in that statement that I did not understand, and rather than look like an ignoramus I chose to simply nod at his assertion, responding "But once he's out, he goes right back to clinic duty?"

"If he survives, yeah, and he doesn't do anything stupid and get shot. But the oaf is tough and knows when to keep his head down, at least." The doctor looked at me for a long moment, something approaching concern etched into his features "The commander has been in a foul mood since interrogating you. Honestly you should be out in the tents right now, but I don't trust the boss man not to pull anything on you, and I took an oath to "do no harm". Until this all clears up, you're staying here, under my protection. That little cutie-pie is free to visit, but no more walking around the fence in broad daylight. And if we get any medical emergencies in here, stay out of my way."

I was a little surprised by the nihilistic man's offer of protection, but I graciously accepted it nonetheless. Seemingly satisfied he began rolling the contents in his hand: another smoke. No longer paying attention to me, he lit it and took a deep drag from it, looking through the walls confining the clinic at something far in the distance- a sort longing in his eyes.


End file.
